Little Red

[Robert O'Toole]

This Rambur's Forktail (thanks Bob) image was taken at the venice rookery in early morning. This image is a good example of a few things that can help your close up photography.

1. Always keep your eyes open. I was actually shooting Great Blue Herons nest builiding and collection sticks when I noticed this D-Fly a few feet away on the edge of the pond right in front of me.

2. This image is another reason why the 200-400 is my favorite lens ever. I went from birds in flight to this image just by clicking the focus limit to full range. No extension or extenders needed, I didnt even have move my position.

3. This also is a good example of why you dont always need a macro lens for close ups.



NIKON D300 200-400mm f/4G AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor,1/400, F4 no flash, straight, no extension, no teleconverter.
Manual Exposure mode at -2/3 (dark background small light subject) Cropped 20% or so, curves, selective USM.

[Robert Amoruso]

Good lesson Robert and an excellent image. I like the diagonal stalk and it entering from a corner.

[John Cooper]

You make some good points there Robert - a very veratile lens indeed!! One of the Moderators recently advised against having a stem originating dierectly from the corner. What are your thoughts on this?
I also would be interested in those links for the diffusers that you mentioned to Michael. Thanks Robert.

[Robert O'Toole]

You make some good points there Robert - a very veratile lens indeed!! One of the Moderators recently advised against having a stem originating dierectly from the corner. What are your thoughts on this?
I also would be interested in those links for the diffusers that you mentioned to Michael. Thanks Robert.


Diagonal elements can work great and I don’t mind them at all I would actually recommend and encourage beginners to try them. If the subject cooperates I usually try straight verticals, horizontals and diagonals.

My close up photography style is different or so it seems that way when I look at other work. 2 examples are that I strive for a balanced background with my closeups. I dont see why people, some are moderators here a BPN, make images at 10am on auto flash that look like they were taken at midnight. Also I really try to not shoot a D-Fly image on a dead broken off stick (I pass on these situations all the time). People forget that a perch is an important element in an image. You can see more diagonal and living perch examples on my site, linked below, under gallerys>dragonflies.

Thanks John

[Jim Caldwell]

Nice capture, Robert - I like the simple frame and the angles formed by the damsel fly and the stalk. I find that most of my "macros" have actually been taken with non-macro lenses and I always carry extension tubes with me, just in case.

[Blake Shadle]

Great image, Robert, and great instruction. The detail throughout is incredible. I really like the composition with the diagonal perch, and the dragon fly itself being diagonal. Very strong.

[Jim Poor]

Call me odd, but I really like the color change on the tip of the perch!

The red looks over saturated to me, almost like candle wax, but I've been looking at the annoying red of QMs so my eyes are a bit tired.

[Robert O'Toole]

Hi Jim, double click on the QM button in the tool bar and you can choose from the rainbow for your overlay color. I have bright blue.

I like the tri color perch also.

Robert

[Jim Poor]

Thanks, I just got your PDF in the mail about five minutes ago :D

[Mike Moats]

Hey Robert, excellent image. I think you did a great job on the position of the blade coming out on the diag from the corner. Good point about knowing when to walk away. I'd rather walk away with nothing, then shoot and image were the results will be inferior.

[Kaushik Balakumar]

lovely colours.
i don't find the damselfly to be tack sharp here...
(am not sure if its just my monitor)

rgds,
Kaushik

[Robert O'Toole]

lovely colours.
i don't find the damselfly to be tack sharp here...
(am not sure if its just my monitor)

rgds,
Kaushik


Hi Bkaushik,

The full size file looks great but it was at F4 so the DOF is really limited also it could be the image, I tend to not do much USM, maybe 100-.4-0.

I can see the spikes on the D-Flies legs and a water drop clearly so I usually stop there and not tend to over sharpen.

Thanks for the advice though, I will give it a little extra USM next time.

Robert

[Bob Glotzhober]

Robert: Great shot! I believe this is a female Rambur's Forktail, Ischnura ramburii. The lack of any black stripe on the side of thorax eliminates the Eastern Forktail and the amount of black on the dorsal surface of the abdomen narrows it down to Rambur's.
Bob G.

[Robert O'Toole]

Appreciate the help thanks Bob.

Robert

[Jeroen Stel]

Hi Robert,

A lovely photograph of this damselfly and i fully agree that you do not allways need a macro lens to get great macro results!
I often shoot with reversed lenses or with extension tubes and like yourself i too use tele-lenses for macro.

In most cases if it is a species i have not shot before i will start out with a medimu tele lens such as my 200mm F2.8 lens (with a 36mm ext tube in some cases) and when the bug allows me to get close enough i swith my 200mm for a macro lens and when he reall y let's me get close i'll even add some more extension tubes for some extreme macro.

Thank you for posting and for your story on how you got this!

Greetings,

Jeroen Stel