Dragonfly Sex!

[Bruce Enns]

I found these Variable Darners in tandem position at the Oasis wetland near Trail BC Canada the other day. Canon 40D with Canon 100-400 L at 340 mm, 1/500 sec at f/8, ISO 400. Gitzo 3530 LS tripod and Mongoose 2.3 head.

Comments and critique are welcome!

Bruce Enns
Castlegar BC

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Bruce,
it's dificult to get these guys with a clean BG during the act........but that was handled pretty well. The rear wing is a bit tight in the frame and the thing in the UR corner (backside of leaf???) is a bit distracting. You may want to opt for a horizontal presentation on this even though this was how it was actually.........adn then you may be able to crop a bit front and top to further minimize distractions.

[Don Lacy]

Very nice behavior image, the BG is a tad distracting but not enough to ruin the image my only suggestion would be to take a little off the top.

[Ed Vatza]

I think the d-flies look great but I would like to see them a little higher in the frame. That would give the wing more separation in the LR and leave less dead space at the top. And I do agree that the background is a little busy.

[Bruce Enns]

Thanks Roman and Don, As you say, It is hard to get them with a clean background. Here is what I started with...the hardest part was getting rid of the leaf through the middle of the frame.

The crop was stil very nearly full frame, so I would have to create canvas to make it a horizontal frame without cutting of the wings of either the male or female (otherwise it would still be a vertical). I think cropping as shown in the 2nd post would be better. That should also allow me to QM out the distracting stalk in UR.

Cheers!
Bruce

[Bruce Enns]

Thanks Ed, I guess I was replying at nearly the same time as you...it may be possible to QM the background some to make it less distracting. I trust the revised crop addresses your framing critique.

Thanks for your comments!

Bruce