Ouch!

[Jerry van Dijk]

Usual subject, unusual perch :)! This is a male Vagrant darter, one of the most common species of dragonfly here in the Netherlands. If you're careful, they're not easily scared, so they make excellent photography subjects. This was taken at work on the university campus. BG is a grassy field. Comments are very welcome

Panasonic DMC-FZ18, handheld, 22 mm (132 mm eq.), ISO-100, F/4.5, 1/250 sec, EC +0.1, pattern metering, aperture priority, RAW. RAW processing in Silkypix, PP in Corel Photopaint. Minor tweaks on exposure, saturation, levels and sharpness. Slight crop for composition.

[Charles Wesley]

Jerry,

I like the juxtapositioning of the DF on the metal perch. It's very surreal. Love the BG and sharpness.
Thanks for sharing...
_____________________
Charlie Wesley
St. Augustine Beach, FL

[Julie Kenward]

Jerry, what kind of crop did you do to this? Is it full frame because it certainly looks like it! Amazing colors and clarity you really "nailed" this one! :D

[Jerry van Dijk]

Thanks for your comments! Jules, this is about 70% of the original frame.

[Mike Fuhr]

Two of some of my favorite subjects -- dflies and barb wire. Both nice to photograph. Nice sharp detail and I like the placement of the barb. Neat shot.

[Mike Moats]

Hey Jerry, very cool comp, good light, and details. Good BG.:)

[Christopher Miller]

Beautiful image, Jerry! Nice BG and details. I like the unusual perch. Might just be me, but I think I'd prefer a comp with a little more room on the left and a little less on the right. Very nice.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Thanks for your comments. It's not just you, Christopher, I actually first tried the comp you describe (which corresponds more or less to the original frame). I felt that both the dragonfly and the barb became too centered, which gave a less powerful image. I applied the ROT here to guide the composition. The head of the DF is now more or less in the UL ROT hotspot and the tail crosses the UR one.

[Anita Bower]

Love how the orange stands out against the green, and the transluscent wings. Very nice.

[Don Lacy]

Hi Jerry, Really nice looking DF, I thought the head could use some selective sharpening and I also did a little on the wings.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi all, thanks for the comments. Don, I like what you've done here. I'm always a bit reluctant to sharpen too much. The bridge camera I use always produces significant amounts of noise, which becomes enhanced when sharpening. I see some in your reworked image as well (esp. on the eyes and the oof wing in the back).

[Ed Cordes]

Re post is better due to the sharpening. I love the BG in both.