Broad bodied Chaser Libellula depressa

[Jonathan Ashton]

Canon 7D Canon 180mm macro & polariser ISO 100 -0.33 1/125 sec f11

Probably the most uncooperative dragonfly I have dealt with! I placed the twig at 180 degrees to the sun and at an angle to get optimal DOF but it just would not land there so I place a different twig in different setting, it went ther so did I , so then it went back to the original one. tTen all change again and again, in the end I sat and wait two hours and a half and had to be satisfied with this one.
All comments welcome.

[Bob Miller]

Hi Johnathan....The dof field on this looks great, as does the sharpness, bg handled nicely> it would be nice to to see the head forward but 2 1/2 hrs is long enough! Congrats on your patience! overall a very nice image to be proud of. You might consider moving the perch more off center. TFS

[Allen Sparks]

Sounds like you had a real battle with this guy! I like the background and the detail is outstanding - even in the perch. As you seem to elude to, the angle of the dragonfly seems a little odd to me. This has me wanting to see more of a straight on view of the thorax and abdomen. I can still tell that this is one chubby dragonfly...the techs all seem spot on - a nice image but as you say there are better poses out there.

[Ken Childs]

2½ hours? You certainly are dedicated. :)

The main attribute of this species is the broad body so if you can't get a head-on angle, something like Allen's suggestion of a straight on back view would be the way to go (assuming the dragon cooperates). The detail, especially in the wings, looks awesome!

I wanted to see a bit more detail in the dark areas so I did a SH adjustment and then increased the contrast. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Jonathan,
While this may not be my favorite pose for the DF.....it certainly shows off the wings extremely well.....so this works for me as presented! I do agree with Ken's suggestions.....will only help improve an already excellent image.

[Julie Kenward]

Two hours? Whew...you ARE dedicated! Agree with the suggestions by others but I have to say this is one clear, crisp, well exposed image as presented. There might be prettier poses and perches out there but this is one detailed portrait and those wings...outstanding!

[daniel valovich]

Very nicely done! I like everything about it except for that little white spot on the lower right wing tip.

[Tim Munsey]

Great DOF, well taken sir.

Tim

[Jonathan Ashton]

2½ hours? You certainly are dedicated. :)

The main attribute of this species is the broad body so if you can't get a head-on angle, something like Allen's suggestion of a straight on back view would be the way to go (assuming the dragon cooperates). The detail, especially in the wings, looks awesome!

I wanted to see a bit more detail in the dark areas so I did a SH adjustment and then increased the contrast. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Ken I attach a re-work; normally Shadows highlights does the trick but couldn't just get what I wanted so I did a reverse curve and followed with selective colour to give a little pop. What do you think?:) Hmm..... just realised I could have placed it less centrally:(

[Ken Childs]

Jon, I think I like the OP better.

With this one I used SH to bring out more detail in the dark areas but by doing that, it washed out some of the colors. Increasing the contrast fixed that problem. I did this yesterday so I can't give the exact settings used.

[Jonathan Ashton]

I like your rework Ken, I will have to have another go at it, yours seems to have a brighter clearer appearance to it.:)