Green Darner head shot

[Keith Kennedy]

This unusually cooperative Green Darner (Anax junius) allowed me to get right on top of it for this close up of the head. Normally these dragonflies are extremely skittish unless cold so I suspect this specimen was at subnormal capacity which is ideal for macro work. The highlight on the left compound eye was unavoidable and I have not yet tried a quickmask to see if I could 'repair it'. I had a large diffusor but without an assistant, I could not maintain focus (the wind was blowing) and hold the diffusor. It was my first use of the 40D for macro work and so far, I am impressed with the files. The image was cropped ca. 10%.


Canon EOS 40D, Canon 180mm f3.5 + 1.4 converter, ISO 800, f13 and 1/100s; AV, Evaluative metering, exp. comp. +1; tripod mounted, location-Wisconsin garden.

[Ed Vatza]

Hi Keith,

Overall I like this image. The detail and colors of the Darner are excellent. Hopefully you can do something with the highlight on the eye because it is distracting. I do wish the background was less busy and there are a few borderline hot spots back there that pull some of my attention away from the subject. I wonder what it would have looked like at something like f/8? Would you have kept the detail on the darner and softened the background?

[Kaushik Balakumar]

Lovely close-sup this one. Excellent details. Agree with u on the distracting highlights in the left eye. Have not idea about how to overcome it in PS. Will love to hear what experts have to suggest.

[Robert O'Toole]

This one is another great one keith. Details and colors are super. You are right about a repair its possible but this one doesnt bother me too much. Its a successful image no matter.

Robert