Calico Pennant

[Steve Maxson]

This female Calico Pennant (Celithemis elisa) was photographed in full sun on an equisetum (aka horsetail, scouring rush) plant - I used fill flash to lighten the shadows. 7D, Canon 180 mm macro, 1/800, f/8, ISO 400, off-camera 580EX at -2, tripod. I removed some specular highlights from the dragonfly. All comments are welcome and appreciated.

[John Storjohann]

Hi Steve;

I love the isolation from the background; beautiful color on the dragon, good sharpness around the head and front legs, as well as along the stalk. I might have gone for a little more DOF along the wings, but you may have lost the isolation and the background bokeh, depending on far away the dragonfly was from the background. A really nice image.

[christopher galeski]

very nice image Steve,very nice BG,like the comp,some good detail in the dragonfly and rush.well done.

[Brendan Dozier]

Excellent detail and IQ on this capture, Steve. Like the pose and composition, and BG works great!
I've been trying to shoot dragonflies at the local lake, but I have yet to see one perch. I watched one pair for about 20 min. and they never landed. Any pointers?

[Steve Maxson]

Thanks for the comments John, Christopher, and Brendan.

Brendan - You probably just need to switch species. :S3: Some species (e.g., a lot of the darners) fly much of the time and seldom perch. Others seem to spend most of their time perched and make short flights to capture prey. As you might expect, the latter are much easier to photograph. These can often be found in meadows - and can be some distance from water.

[Don Lacy]

Sweet DF Steve, love the perch and BG.

[Nick Palmieri]

Great capture. Like the wing position. Good detail in the dragonfly and perfect BG. I like the perch but may just crop off some of the bottom. TFS

[Julie Kenward]

I can't get over how perfectly in focus that stalk is! It literally pops off the page, Steve! I also wondered about a bit more DOF in the wings but wouldn't sacrifice the beautiful BG either - it's sharp and delicate all at the same time.

[Jason Stander]

Awesome shot Steve... firstly a killer bg... superb detail, comp and exposure... but for the OOF wing tips are very distracting (makes it difficult to focus on the subject at hand)... if they were in focus they would have made this a winner image... otherwise WD!:S3:

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Steve,
Hard for me to argue against more DOF:Whoa!:......but as usual in these situations....would change the BG and that is always the trade-off in macro. It is sharp where it needs it and the perch is fantastic.....I too wish for more DOF but it is very nice as presented!

PS Brendan.....time of day and temp also dictates how active they are!

[Carel v/d Sanden]

Wouwwww.
perfect.

[Steve Maxson]

Thanks, everyone, for your comments! As I suspected, not everyone was fond of the soft wings - something to work on next time in the field - balancing more DOF on the subject while still maintaining a clean background. :S3:

[Susan Candelario]

Excellent details on the face, plant and the b/g is perfect!