Predawn Dragonfly

[John Cooper]

An alpine dragonfly photographed with first available light

Canon EOS 3, Canon 100mm macro, Velvia 50, 10secs F16, Natural light, Tripod

[Christopher C.M. Cooke]

Great Scott John is that dew on the DF?, Great capture.

John have you used a focusing rail and if so what do you think of them?

[Mike Moats]

Hey John, great find. It has a really nice early morning cool blue light going on. I would have liked to seen the top of the stem, and the DF in the lower third. Excellent details and nice BG. Well done.

[John Cooper]

Great Scott John is that dew on the DF?, Great capture.

John have you used a focusing rail and if so what do you think of them?

Yes Chris it is dew. Very common to find dew covered subjects in alpine regions particularly in sphagnum moss bogs where insect life is usually prolific. I did purchase a focusing rail many years ago but found it more trouble than its worth. I find moving the tripod to get rough focus and then fine tuning with the lens focusing ring works for me.

[Christopher C.M. Cooke]

John I just picked up a Manfrotto 454 Macro Rail and I suspect that you are right and it will see most use on the MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5 Macro when I get it in a couple of weeks (Canon permitting)

[Fabs Forns]

John, congratulations! This looks like a delicate crystal figurine :)

[Robert O'Toole]

John,

Super fine details, very good. The exposure says alot about the low light level.

The only thing I might try if the image was mine is to warm the image up slightly and run a mild USM on the dew droplets.

Robert