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View Full Version : Spreadwing - two shot manual focus merge



Bruce Enns
07-16-2009, 11:34 PM
A short trip to a local wetland yielded this image of a Spreadwing (not sure which of three possible species, Emerald, I think). I have been trying these manual merges (as in Fabs tutorial sticky at the top of this forum!) since last years dragonfly season. This is a merge of two images, one intended to capture the perch, the face, legs and thorax, the other to capture the wings and abdomen. I could have added a third focused on the tail end of the abdomen, but he moved to a slightly different position. In this case, a careful use of a very small diameter depth of field sharpening brush made the tail appear fairly sharp.

Canon 50D, Sigma 150 f/2.8 macro with Sigma 2x on tripod with gimbal head...AV mode, ISO 400, 1/160s, f/16, 0EV, fill flash with diffuser at -1 2/3

Comments and critiques are greatly appreciated...thanks for looking!

Cheers!
Bruce

Julie Kenward
07-17-2009, 07:41 AM
Really nice, Bruce! I can't say I love the OOF area on the perch that much but everything else is really well done. My goodness, this is nicely exposed and detailed.

Another option might be to put the perch a bit on a diagonal so the tail is more in the LRC and the head is looking upper left.

Nicki Gwynn Jones
07-17-2009, 11:09 AM
Hi Bruce,
Very impressive image - love the colours and sharpness. Agree with Jules' idea about putting the perch on a diagonal.
Best,
Nicki

Anita Bower
07-21-2009, 07:54 AM
Looks like she is posing for us and being a bit coquettish. Lovely colors and capture. Hadn't thought of the diagonal, but, it might be worth a try.