Common Blue Damselfly - Enallagma cyathigerum

[Jonathan Ashton]

Camera Model Canon EOS 50D
Firmware Firmware Version 1.0.7
Shooting Mode Aperture-Priority AE
ISO 400 ( I took a number from 100 ->800)
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/30
Av( Aperture Value ) 8.0 (again a number of apertures ranging from 7.1 to 11)
Metering Mode Evaluative Metering
Lens EF180mm f/3.5L Macro USM
Flash On
Flash Type External E-TTL
E-TTL II flash metering Evaluative flash metering
Flash Exposure Compensation -1 1/3
Shutter curtain sync 1st-curtain sync
AF Mode AI Focus AF

I took a number of shots in breezy conditions but ended up with a few reasonable ones. I really wanted this one because the prey is more discernible than some of the other shots. I had a job processing here, the blues are not quite as I wanted then, I have tried a number of different ways including masks and saturation of cyans, selective colour etc. Also there was a pale stripe running across the wings and I was unable to fill in the background to the wings without smudging the veins hence the bans across the wings. So let me have it both barrels please - all suggestions are most welcome!

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Jonathan,
both barrels you say:D! The BG stripes did pose quite the challenge for you and I feel you handled it very well....those fall into the out of our control dept;)....but I did want to try a few things just to see what I could possibly offer you to try. First thing I did was go into color balance and add gree.....this took some of the magenta/red tone out of the BG and give it a nicer green. I then selected out just the BG.....using the magic wand.....I did not get into the wings......pulled down the brightness. I was going to just leave it there but decided to go even further for comparison.......I further tweaked the BG with a few blurs and another tone down and color correction of the RH side. Crop.....then I toned down the entire imge even further....using brightness......finally blew it up to 400% and dodged the snack a touch. Having not been there....this could be totally off base but hopefully you can use some of these to tweak it to where you like it more! .......overall, I think you did very well and tweaks can take a well composed image in many directions....real or unreal......those are personal choices but are only really possible with an image that is strong to begin with!

[Jonathan Ashton]

Roman - you are the main man - thanks a million and thanks for your time - VERY much appreciated your image is MUCH better than mine!;)

[Mike Moats]

Hey Jonathan, very nice comp, good details and do like the repost by Roman, well done by of you.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

The original post was VG, I think the trick is knowing how to PP. I think Roman really brought the best out in the image.

[Julie Kenward]

I agree! You had a lovely pose, a good clean BG, a nice looking perch - you just need to remember that taking the image is only half of the process of digital photography. You need to spend time learning the tricks of pp as well as practicing with the camera! ;)

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks everyone - I am learning and quickly too thanks to you guys - thanks again