OK...more bugs

[Ken Childs]

Canon EOS REBEL T1i
Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS @ 400mm
Manual mode
1/250"
F16
ISO: 200
Canon 430EX: On, Fired
LR & CS3

Another Blue Dasher. I sure wish they'd find darker sticks to perch on. I cloned out a few water reflections and lightly painted some brown over the stick to darken it.

[Bob Miller]

HI ken...You do have a way with these guys....I am enjoying your shots of the dfly....so sharp and the veination is remarkable...I like the eyes on this posting better than in some earlier postings. i agree with you that darker perches would be better but Hey i wish I could get some shots of dflys like yours. Great work!

[Arthur Morris]

Dragonfly: A+

Perch: D-

[OvidiuCavasdan]

I like the composition, details and nice blue color. Also good BG, but a darker perch would have been better. Looking foreward for your next one.

[Charissa]

Super shot Ken, perch or not. VERY nice title;))
Only thing that bothers me a bit, is the white spots in the right eye, and on the nose. If that were gone, would be perfect. Very well taken as is as well, great dof, colors and detail. Like the angle of the shot as well.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Ken, awsome comp, colors and details. I would like to encourage you to try some of these shots without flash to avoid those highlights in the eyes.
Reg. perch: I once got the great tip here (after I posted a very nice DF on a very ugly bamboo stick) to go out and collect some nice looking perches and just put them in the ground in places where these DF's like to hang out. With a little luck they will also land on the nice ones (where, of course, you will be lurking to pull off another great shot:D).

[Ken Childs]

Hi Ken, awsome comp, colors and details. I would like to encourage you to try some of these shots without flash to avoid those highlights in the eyes.
Reg. perch: I once got the great tip here (after I posted a very nice DF on a very ugly bamboo stick) to go out and collect some nice looking perches and just put them in the ground in places where these DF's like to hang out. With a little luck they will also land on the nice ones (where, of course, you will be lurking to pull off another great shot:D).
Thanks, Jerry. :)
If the bugs stays put long enough, I'll usually take some shots without the flash but I almost always get better results with the flash. These things are active when the sun is high above so the light basically sucks. Without flash, the lower areas of the bug are in shadow and I lose a lot of detail. The only difference on the face is the extra catchlight on the eye. Those other highlights in the face are still there even without flash. I'll still continue to try shots without the flash.

The light colored sticks are my fault. I grab sticks I find near the pond and stick them in the mud so they're at about a 45 degree angle over or parallel to the water. I plan on replacing them with better sticks in the next few days.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Lovely shot, I have done a slight modification - do you think it works?

[Ken Childs]

It's definitely a step in the right direction. :)

[Don Lacy]

Hi Ken, Really like these front views they show off the eyes nicely, comments on the perch reflect my own but I do know how hard it s to get these guys on interesting perches.

[Julie Kenward]

Beautiful dfly, Ken. I do like the toned down highlights and I love the idea of adding perches to where you see the dflys land. I was wondering...have you ever thought to set up a large reflector below the perch - maybe a white sheet - to see if that would illuminate the underside of the dfly? Perhaps that would be one way to get around the flash issue. ???

[Ken Childs]

I was wondering...have you ever thought to set up a large reflector below the perch - maybe a white sheet - to see if that would illuminate the underside of the dfly? Perhaps that would be one way to get around the flash issue. ???
The sticks have to be over water to get these males to want to use them so i don't think a reflector would work.

I'm going to replace the sticks with darker ones and if I get cooperative subjects, I'm going to try for shots with and without flash. If I line them up well, I may be able to make a composite using parts from the non-flashed image to cover over-flashed parts.