First Dasher of the year

[Ken Childs]

Canon EOS REBEL T1i
Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS @ 400 mm
Manual mode
1/500"
F16
ISO 200
Canon 430EX: On, Fired
HH
LR & CS3

The Blue Dashers have been around for awhile but I haven't had the time to use the camera much lately. I really should be out mowing my acres of lawn right now! A few days ago I took 10 minutes to see what I could get. It was thinly overcast and still bright and the light was coming from the back left of the dragonfly so I used flash as the main light. The BG is a pond.

Some highlights on the wings were cloned out and I did a little clean-up on the branch. Normally I would crop something like this somewhat squarish but I thought I'd try a landscape and see what the reaction is.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Excellent work Ken! Glad you found some time to pick up your camera. BG is very nice and clean and you got the dragonfly sharp from head to tail and almost from wingtip to wingtip. Details and colors are wonderful, great control of the flash. Although I like the different crop, I'm more in favour of your classic 'squarish' crop. That 100-400 seems a good piece of glass for this type of work!

[Jonathan Ashton]

First image and I think it will take some beating! What a super shot love the composition and colours, maybe the twig is a little large and long and it does pull my eye a little - but not half as much as that dasher. Great shot - love it!! Is the background muddy water?

[Andrew McLachlan]

Ken, this is great. Love the pose and the sharpness throughout the dragonfly.

[Brendan Dozier]

This is outstanding, Ken! It's doing a hand stand for you! The IQ is amazing on this, and those shiney green eyes are just awesome. I agree about the twig is a slight distraction, and you may want to crop a bit off the R, just so there is less of it. Very nicely done, and hope you get some more time to shoot. :cheers:

[Mitch Haimov]

Outstanding, Ken! Fantastic pose, detail, eyes, and BG. I like the idea of this crop but think it would work better if the perch were darker; the light areas make it mildly distracting, so I have to agree with cropping from right.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Ken. Well, you nailed this one - this is one of the nicest blue dasher images I've seen!! Excellent pose, light, color, sharpness, and background. The comp works for me, but I think I'd like it even more as a square - the long perch tends to lead my eye out of the frame. :cheers:

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Ken,
Afraid of the crop tool all of a sudden:bg3:......or you just wanted to give us something to critique.......because the rest is awesome!

[OvidiuCavasdan]

Excellent sharpness and details, very nice colors, very good pose, I love that BG...outstanding!

[Allen Sparks]

Hi Ken! I really like this as presented. great dragonfly details and the crop works for me. Let's get together again now that bug season has returned.

[Nick Palmieri]

The dasher is tack sharp, the colors are perfect, and he is in a cool position. I also agree bout losing some of the perch on the right. Overall, this is a great image!