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Arthur Morris
05-21-2010, 06:51 PM
I was photographing this loverly flower from Jim Neiger's pontoon boat on Lake Blue Cypress (Osprey Heaven--see the blog). I was pretty much done but took one last peek through the viewfinder only to see that an attractive dragonfly had landed in the perfect position. I took a few more frames as the boat drifted slowly; this one was my select.

Canon 800mm f/5.6L IS lens with the 1.4X II TC and the EOS-1D MIV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/125 sec. at f/13.

Don't be shy. All comments welcome.

If anyone can identify the flower (pond apple???) or the dragonfly species, I would be greatly appreciative.

Cheryl Flory
05-21-2010, 07:00 PM
We call them water hyacinths, but I don't know their Latin name. While I like the blossoms and the attractive dragon fly, the white area in the LRC is distracting to me, and I think I would lower the exposure a bit on the entire top half of the image, especially to deepen and bring out the contrast in the blossoms. I really like the water drop in the LLC.

Arthur Morris
05-21-2010, 07:42 PM
Thanks Cheryl. I will take a shot at toning down the white leaf center in the lrc. As for the upper half of the image the tonality/brightness looks perfect to me. Make sure that your monitor is calibrated and that your calibration strip looks good.

Cheryl Flory
05-21-2010, 07:51 PM
Artie, the brightness of the upper part of the image may be exactly as you saw it and prefer it. It is just my personal preference for deeper colors. I am used to the water hyacinth blossoms in my backyard bog which are a bit darker than the ones you have here, but that could be a regional difference. (the callibration strip at the bottom of this page looks good and I just ordered a monitor callibrator today. so by next week, my monitor will be correct! :D)

Deborah Hanson
05-21-2010, 09:43 PM
I find that I really like this one. I have never seen the flowers so I can't comment on whether the colors are true but I love the overall pastel tones. The blues that are mirrored in the petals and the dragonfly and the greens that are in both the dragonfly and the leaves - give good balance to the image.
The only thing I would want is less DOF in the very bottom leaves. And I agree that the bright spot is a bit distracting.
Deb

Connie Mier
05-22-2010, 07:48 AM
First off, I'm glad to see that sharp, well composed photos can be shot from a moving boat, something I strive to do every time I go out to photograph. :) Second, how lucky can you get with the cooperative dragonfly (wish I could ID it for you) making this a very pleasing vertical comp. I am using a new monitor (calibrated) attached to my laptop and I find the colors to be perfect.

Julie Kenward
05-22-2010, 08:18 AM
A beautiful image, Artie! Excellent position of the DF on the flower. I felt your image really shows the outdoor nature of the plant but the little brown blemishes and some of the BG kept pulling my eye away from the flower and DF so I smoothed out/painted over a few things (like the blotchy areas in the deep BG and the very light stems at the bottom) and did some quick minor cloning (brown spots on the plants) to give it a more polished look. I find my eye goes right to the flower and DF now and then circulates throughout the plants without getting hung up on the very minor plant flaws.

Dave Mills
05-22-2010, 12:18 PM
Hi Art, Thought I would take a shot at this. The flower is a beautiful specimen with alot of detail. I assume it grows in dense areas of vegetation so probably difficult to get a clean shot. The dragonfly is an added plus to the image. In the repost I tried to reduce some of the distracting element of the environment and have the flower stand out more in the image by cleaning up some areas and merging them with surrounding leaves. I also burned in some of the backround to add some depth.
I did it quickly as an example.

Ken Childs
05-22-2010, 12:58 PM
Artie, I like the overall look of this and the reposts look good but the bug geek in me wants some work done on the dragonfly because that's where my eye goes to. I'd like to see the dragon sharpened a bit all over and I'd really like to see its fantastic blue eyes brightened up.


Flowers are fine but when you get a dragonfly on a flower, that's special IMO. :)

Arthur Morris
05-22-2010, 02:17 PM
Cheryl, I still have no clue as to what you are talking about. Dave wins the toning down the bright stuff award, but Julie gets the grand prize for her superb clean-up work. Thanks a ton for that. Can I send you the TIFF :) :) :) ? That hadda take you more than a few minutes. Now here's the best part: I had already done quite a bit of clean-up and was starting to feel guilty so I quit! Thanks to all who commented.

Arthur Morris
05-22-2010, 02:19 PM
Here's the somewhat a mess original :) Since I saw these on Lake Blue Cypress I have since seen them--the flowers--on my afternoon walks by the lake near my home. I had never noticed them before. And yes, they only grow in the clutter.

Ooopss; forgot to attach at first. :)

Tim Munsey
05-23-2010, 12:06 PM
Wow, all amazing, must be a wonderful area to live in. Lovely shot, great to have the dragon as a bonus.

Tim

Anita Bower
05-23-2010, 04:57 PM
What a gorgeous flower and dragonfly! I like Julie's repost with blemishes, etc. taken out, as they were distracting. Good job shooting from a boat.

Arthur Morris
05-23-2010, 08:01 PM
Thanks :) One of the secrets of using a long lens from a boat successfully is to threaten the others with death if they move or breathe ;)