They're here again!

[Jerry van Dijk]

Dragonfly season started off with a bang here! We continuously had summer temperatures here in April, causing many plants to bloom and insects to emerge long before their regular time. This Libellula depressa female is at least two weeks early. I wish she had chosen a less prominent perch though. I'm wondering whether I should remove the tiny reflections of the sun on the wing.

Panasonic DMC FZ18, handheld, 83 mm (500mm equivalent), F/5.6, 1/250 sec., ISO-100, EC 0, JPG. PP in CS4: Cropped, sharpened, NR on BG, no further tweaks.

[Brendan Dozier]

Wonderful detail on this dragonfly, Jerry! Really like the intricate mesh pattern of the wings. The perch is a bit prominent, but like the pleasing soft green BG. Nice work! :S3:

[Kaushik Balakumar]

Beautiful image. Liked the fact that you managed to keep the entire dragonfly in focus.
Liked the veins in the wings.

[Julie Kenward]

Jerry, I think those little reflection spots could easily be removed in this case - I'd blow up the magnification and give it a try. Love the yellow color on the body and don't really mind the perch all that much because it looks totally natural and is in fairly good shape. Only thing I miss here is the face...

[Jerry van Dijk]

Thank you all for commenting! I agree that it's easy to remove the reflection spots, but is it necessary to improve the image? I'm a bit conservative when it comes to cloning :w3.
I'll try some different angles for a "mug shot" next time I visit!

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Jerry,
Yeah....different angle would be good....but then we'd lose all the wonderful detail in the face! I do think the wing highlights are OK....but get the ones on the face:bg3:! Nicely done!

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Jerry. This is a nice looking specimen and I like the yellow in the abdomen. Nice lighting, background, and comp, and the perch doesn't bother me. If this was mine, I'd probably clone the specular highlights on the wings and head as they tend to draw my eye. The sharpest focus seems to be on the abdomen with the head a little soft - though not too bad. I'm a little surprised you got as much DOF as you did shooting at f/5.6. :S3: Overall, this is well done.

[Ken Childs]

Hi Jerry, sure it would be nice to see the face but I love this angle anyway. When you capture a good angle of the face, you are much less likely to see the beautiful patterns on the wings or abdomen so IMHO, a shot from this angle is no better or worse than a shot showing the face.....it's just different.

If this were mine, I'd clone out the highlights on the wings and head. As Steve said, they are a distraction and I do think the image would be improved if they were removed.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Okay, you convinced me! Here's a version without the highlights. Mostly cloning, some burning on the eye. Thanks again for commenting!
Steve, the bridge camera I'm using is supposed to have more DOF at the same aperture than DSLR's. When it comes to getting a dragonfly completely in focus, that's very handy, but it can be a real problem when you want to get a nice clean BG when its close to the subject.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Very nice shot, I hope to be chasing these gems myself sometime this week but the weather has taken a turn for the worse (can you tell I am English?).
A minor point for your consideration: I get the impression the focal point was probably around the abdomen region, I suspect had the focus been shifted slightly more toward the thorax you DOF would have been optimised.