Blue Damsel

[Christopher Miller]

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m244/CAMiller290/BPN/P6120200ResizeWeb.jpg

Recently I've been photographing damselflies a lot trying to get better photos of them. It is uncanny how the damselflies see me coming and move before I can get a shot, but I have managed to get some good photos, of which this is one. Any C&C are welcome!

Olympus SP-550 UZ
f4.5 @ 1/60, ISO 100, -0.3 EV
Aperture priority mode, pattern metering, cloudy WB
Processed in PS CS2; cropped to vertical, curves adjustment, and a tiny bit of cloning on the BG

[Aidan Briggs]

Nice job catching this guy. I like the grass stem and the light. I would run some noise reduction on the bg though. Also I don't like that the body is angled away from you, but as you noted, they are often not very cooperative.

[Tell Dickinson]

Nice capture showing good detail Christopher :) I wonder what it would look like if the bg was toned down a little as its quite bright on my monitor ?

Tell

[Christopher Miller]

http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m244/CAMiller290/BPN/P6120200ResizeWeb2.jpg

Thanks Aidan and Tell for commenting. Here's a repost following your suggestions of running NR and toning down the BG a bit. Please tell me what you think!

Aidan, I agree with you on the angle, but this was the best shot I was able to get of this particular damselfly.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Repost looks much better Christopher. Nice sharp details on the damsel, just the part about it facing away I guess. But is still really like it:) Looks like you have the highlights under control too on the bug.

[Julie Kenward]

Very nice, Christopher! I do like the detail on the DF even if it is facing away you do still have good sight on the eye area so that's helpful. I am really surprised you got that DOF on the background at f4.5...amazing. I would suggest lowering it next time but I doubt you can get the whole body of the DF in focus if you do.

Definitely like the repost better.

[Christopher Miller]

Julie, I find damselflies extremely tricky to get in focus because of their long bodies and wide heads, so f4.5 is really the lowest I can go and still get most of the damselfly in focus. Even then, most of my shots fail to get the entire damselfly in focus. Thanks for the comments!