Male Scarlet Skimmer

[Don Lacy]

i reworked an old image of one of my favorite Dragons not sure if I have posted it before but if I have this is a better version:bg3:

30D, 500 f/4 + 25mm ext + 1.4TC, 1/200 at f/10, Manual Mode, Evaluative Metered

[Nick Palmieri]

That's a cool looking DF. I love the BG and good perch, you also caught him at a good angle. You are starting to lose some detail in the wings ... I may crank up the ISO to allow for a more suitable f/stop (f/16???). TFS

[Julie Kenward]

I've never been lucky enough to see one of these in person so I really appreciate you doing such a great job of showing them off, Don! Agree with Nick about the wings but it's not a deal breaker for me here as the body and most of the wings are in such great shape. If you had to choose I'd prefer to see the front wings more in focus and sacrifice a bit at the back wing area.

Love the green/red combo - well handled colors - these are easy to blow out and you did very well here!

[Jason Stander]

A super image Don... firstly I love the colours... the clean bg really compliments the image alot... great detail shown... the loss of detail at the tips is for me not really a train smash... difficult creatures to capture and you have done well:w3

[christopher galeski]

nice image Don,nice BG and perch,very nice DF,love the color of it.thanks.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Don,
That set-up is a killer combo for you. I don't remember seeing it.....and I've been here a while:2eyes2:! As usual.......macro is a tradeoff....more DOF.....sure.....but only if it didn't screw up the sweet BG! I think you have enough sharp.....that this works for me as presented....even with my love of f32! Very nicely done and the pose takes it over the top!

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Don. A beautiful dragonfly well photographed. Nice head to tail sharpness against a clean background and it even gave you a head turn! The softness at the ends of the wings does not bother me. The 500 mm "macro" lens worked quite well for you here to produce an excellent image. :S3:

[John Storjohann]

Don, this is a really nice capture...dragonflies can be difficult to shoot. I've never seen this particular species in my area...stunning color!...and the smooth background enhances the image. I think if you had stopped down anymore to try to preserve wing sharpness you would have started to introduce a lot of background clutter. Well done!

[Don Lacy]

Don, this is a really nice capture...dragonflies can be difficult to shoot. I've never seen this particular species in my area...!
Hi John, thank you for comment. The Scarlet Skimmer is an Old World species found in the Middle East and Asia it is the only Old World Dragonfly found in the New World and is limited to South Florida. Cuba, And Hawaii the first record of these guys found over here was in Miami in 1970s .