A Dragonfly

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

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Camera
Canon EOS 7D (http://www.flickr.com/cameras/canon/eos_7d/)


Exposure
0.002 sec (1/500)


Aperture
f/5.6


Focal Length
280 mm


ISO Speed
125


Exposure Bias
0 EV

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with the 70-200 f/4 L IS USM + 1.4 X TCIII hand held.

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6038/6211950020_5a844e966c_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/40906945@N08/6211950020/)
Dragonfly (http://www.flickr.com/photos/40906945@N08/6211950020/) by docsanjeev (http://www.flickr.com/people/40906945@N08/), on Flickr

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Sanjeev, very nice dragonfly on an interesting perch. Compositionwise, I would have liked more room to the left and less room to the right. There's a lot of empty space there now. Since you were able to create a fabulous even BG, adding canvas to the left should be an easy task. I would also consider brightening up the shadows a bit, especially on the head, to bring out some more detail. Did you do a levels adjustment?
What would have further improved the image while shooting was taking a step to the left and lowering a bit. This would have separated the OOF flower from the sharp one and also would have separated the OOF flower from the dragonfly's legs. A slightly higher aperture would have gotten the tail completely in focus and would have shown more of the veins on the wings, which I usually find the attraction of dragonflies.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Hi Jerry, You have made some very good suggestions. I will keep that in mind the next time. I did some levels adjustment and used Noiseware to clean up the BG a bit. any reason why you asked about the levels adjustment.
Appreciate your words.
Regards
Sanjeev

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Sanjeev, I asked about the levels adjusment, because I found the image a bit low in contrast and a bit flat in color. I fiddled a bit with your image (hope you don't mind) in ACR6.4 to show the effect. Next to the levels adjustment (I just moved the sliders until the blacks and whites started clipping), I used the fill light slider to brighten up the shadows. I selectively sharpened the tail using a sharpness and clarity adjustemnt brush. I also cropped from the right and added canvas to the left, which I filled with BG using the clone stamp in CS5. All in all under 5 minutes of work. You should try it out, a simple levels adjustment can make a big difference to your images.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Jerry, This looks great. I absolutely don't mind you playing with my image, in fact I am thankful to you! The composition looks much better and I liked the adjustments. I will certainly try it hence forth.
Cheers
Sanjeev

[Ken Childs]

Hi Sanjeev, you've got a good pose here and it's always nice to find a dragonfly perched on something with some color. Jerry has some good suggestions and I like the look of the dragon in his repost but if this were mine, I would have cropped some from the right and left the left side alone. I would also remove the separate pink petal that's at the bottom and to the left of the main stem. It's a good base image and Jerry has shown that a little extra work in PP can make all the difference!

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Sanjeev. The dragonfly gave you a very nice pose on a colorful perch against a clean background. The dragonfly's body is a little dark in your original image so I like what Jerry has done in his repost - a quick and easy tweak. Jerry and Ken have given you suggestions for improving the comp. I think I prefer Ken's suggestion, but it's largely a matter of taste and both have their merits. :S3: