I am not sure what this is but I enjoyed taking its picture

[Jeff Sorbie]

Taken @ Mud Lake in Ottawa, Ontario while out photographing birds.

A700-Sigma 120-400mm @ 300mm
1/800, f5.6, ISO500

[Paul Lagasi]

Jeff...I am going to have to get to Mud Lake...I am fairly sure this is a Male Widow Skimmer..nice sharp Dragonfly. Nice capture
Downside..background a bit busy. Shirley's Bay is another good place.

[Desmond Chan]

The dragonfly itself looks very nice. I may choose to sharpen the eyes a bit though. Background wise, to me, it's not as distracting as it is kind of bright and a bit messy :)

[Jonathan Ashton]

Nice shot good DOF, the background may look a little less obtrusive if you tone it down a little and blur it slightly.

[Ken Childs]

Hey Jeff, I agree with the comments already posted. The BG needs some work but it will be hard to make it look right because you have to deal with the clear wings. When the BG shows through the subject, it takes a lot of work to fix it and make it look natural.

FYI, it's hard to get a shot of a Widow Skimmer with a good BG. They tend to perch on the middle of sticks with lots of plants close all around them.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Jeff, wonderful details and colors on the dragonfly! You could consider cropping this as a horizontal, it will rid you of part of the busy BG and draw even more attention to the dragonfly.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Jeff,
Great advice given above! Jerry's idea on the horizontal crop intrigues me......becuase it just might work! Toning it down will also help. Distance to the BG from the subject is very, very, important......so just keep that in mind for next time out!

[Jeff Sorbie]

Thanks folks. Am I allowed to reply to this with the horizontal crop or is that not allowed?

[Roman Kurywczak]

Yep....go ahead Jeff and repost it here!

[Vida van der Walt]

Very nice image Jeff. Great detail in this. I agree on the bg and would also like to see what a horizontal crop will look like.:)

[Jeff Sorbie]

I decided to try a square crop since there was another reed in the shot if I did not. C&C welcome.

[Julie Kenward]

Jeff I think you chose well on the square crop. Next time you're in the field either add a bit of extra room around all four sides of the frame or turn the camera so the stick and the dragonfly are more on a diagonal line within the frame. The diagonal line fills the frame nicely and moves the wing position to the upper and lower opposite corners.

Nice DOF on this from the bug's view but the BG is terribly busy. As Ken suggested, with a see-thru wing it's very hard to make adjustments so exposure in the field is critical!

Your repost really took it up a notch. Nice work!