Great Blue Skimmer

[Ken Childs]

Canon EOS REBEL T1i
Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS @ 275mm
Manual mode
1/320"
F16
ISO:200
LR & CS3
Canon 430EX: On, Fired
HH

This is either a female or an immature male.
BG was evened out up a bit with the clone tool.

[Julie Brown]

Beautiful BG, Ken. Nice perch, and very sharp. Why is it called blue? I don't see any blue on this.

[Ken Childs]

Why is it called blue? I don't see any blue on this.
They all start out looking like this but the males turn solid blue when they mature.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Ken,
Very nice job isolating the BG. I don't know why I shy away from this pose as it shows off the wings very nicely! The diagonal pose and perch work very well also.....very well done overall!

[OvidiuCavasdan]

Very nice and sharp. I dont mind that he's facing away from camera, wing details are super. Like the BG a lot, colors working well with perch. Like it!

[Julie Kenward]

I love a head on pose but this really works as well. What great detail in the wings and throughout the entire body. I like the way you smoothed out the BG - might try a bit more along the dark edge of the bottom frame or possibly even a vignette all the way around if you like that to blend that dark edge a bit more.

Really lovely portrait, Ken!

[Ken Childs]

Thanks all for your comments.

Jules, the vignette idea is a good one. Thanks!

[Adrian David]

I like it very much! Great details on the wings and very nice separation from the BG.

[Allen Sparks]

Wow Ken what a spectacular species...would love to shoot the female someday - I usually only find the males. Love the detail..nice angle too.

[Ken Childs]

Recently in one of the dragonfly groups I belong to, someone posted a picture of an amazing looking dragon that they needed ID help on. Because of the size and the white face, it was easy to see that it was a Great Blue but it was a male on his way from immature to mature colors. This awesome pattern with a hint of the adult blue was incredible to look at!