Blue Tailed Damselfly

[Jonathan Ashton]

Canon 50D Canon 180mm macro Tripod 6 sec f22 ISO 100
When I went out pond dipping I found this damselfly, I caught him in a butterfly net and took him home. After 30 min or so I managed to get him to perch on this grass which I then placed on the small tripod which has a peg on the head. He wasn't too cooperative but I managed a few images and then I let him fly away into the back garden where there is plenty of prey and other damselflies nearby.
All comments welcome

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Jonathan,
Yep....macro is one of the photography disciplines that allows you to control the situation the most..Light, BG, and perch in many cases......even with a small set-up! 6 seconds outside.....never! This one is well thought out....composed.....and killer BG. Winner all around in my book!

[kostas nianiopoulos]

i think his blue pretty color against the green blury BG is all the money , well done .

[Steve Maxson]

Pretty impressive for a 6 sec exposure, Jonathan. Good sharpness throughout and an excellent background. Well done.

[Dave Blinder]

Jonathon - Great detail. I see a magenta cast and/or chromatic abberation here, I might reduce the magenta channel in photoshop. I could also see raising the contrast (curves) here a bit.

[Susan Candelario]

Well worth the trouble, Johnathon. Very nice image all around, comp, lighting, BG and sharpness.

[Julie Kenward]

A couple of small suggestions...

First, might try blending the lighter green with the darker green in the URC.

Also, the top of the df feels very close to the top of the frame. You could either add canvas at the top or, next time, choose a less sharp angle so he has a little more head room.

Nice, crisp image and the blue colors are lovely!

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thank you for your comments, I was struggling here with the light, as you might guess there weren't to many sharp images with that exposure! I should have brought the flash gun with me on reflection but I wanted to get a shot without the glassy appearance on the wings - this is a common occurrence when using flash. Jules I have adopted your brush technique as a matter of routine - well almost, I didn't use it this time because I felt a little variation helped mimic a natural background- on reflection I agree however just a little blending might have helped. I took the image in the front porch and it was very dull light - the background is an old hand towel - it looks patchy due (it is not dirty - honest!!) to the fact that the light is uneven as I have a large grape vine growing outside the porch.

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

Jon, very impressive - six seconds - wow!! I don't think that I can stand still for that long!!!

[Charles Wesley]

Jonathon,

In the real world of macro photography, this image is most excellent. Six second exposures are hard to pull off. Works best early morning for me but really difficult to get a sharp image IMO.
Thanks for sharing...
__________________________

Charlie Wesley
St. Augustine Beach, FL
http://naturesphotographs.com