Dragonfly

[Joseph Przybyla]

I captured this image this morning and have not tried to identify it yet. The image was captured at Circle B Bar Reserve in Polk County, Florida. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D7000
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED shot at 400mm (600mm FFE)
1/2500 F/8 Matrix Metering 0 EV ISO 1000 AWB
Post processed in Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC
Cropped for composition and presentation

[Allen Sparks]

Hi Joseph,
Nice stop action capture. I like the background and wing position. I think this may be a Wandering Glider dragonfly. There seems to be quite a bit of noise on the head and thorax - was this a big crop or maybe oversharpened somewhat?
Allen

[Steve Maxson]

A nice capture of a difficult subject along with good light and a clean background. I would agree with Allen that the dragonfly has an oversharpened look to it - you might back off somewhat on your sharpening and see if that looks better. :S3:

[Jonathan Ashton]

Very well caughtb well focused, I agree just a little crunchy but very well done - one to be proud of.

[Bill Nuttall]

Joseph, Dragons in flight are always very difficult and it is a good attempt .......... I never get them "right"

but for me the noise in the subject "kills" the image especially when combined with OOF, (DOF induced) wings

You almost need to be up at f16+ in good light because you have to get near to get shots of these creatures

I have used FF, DX and the Nikon V1 with FT-1 for Dragon and Damsel images and I find the I have most success if I fill the sensor of the CX V1 and do not crop, keeping the ISO at 400 or below . so therefore good light is needed.
My favoured lens for Dragons/Damsels is a 300mm Nikon, (sometimes with the 1,4TC), rather than say the more traditional "macro/micro" 105mm f2.8VR

what % crop was the image