Common darter (m) - obelisk

[Jonathan Ashton]

Tripod Canon 7D Canon 180mm macro ISO 400 1/500 sec f11
Another shot taken at the garden pond. Things are getting very quiet now there is not much about!
The dragonfly is in the "obelisk" stance, this minimises the body are in direct line of the sun, i.e. they adopt this position when they are warm enough (which is not very often over here!)

[shane shacaluga]

Very well captured. Lovely detail across the entire body and super BG

The dragonfly eyes always look OOF even though they are not, must be the way the reflect the light

Thanks for the info on the body position and TFS ;)

[Nancy Bell]

Awesome! Fantastic pose and curved/curled perch. Love the glowing highlights on the tiny body hairs, as well as all the other fine details. Plus a lovely blurred bkgd with beautiful colors. I also like the double set of wings, one detailed and one somewhat blurred. It adds interest and a sense of imminent motion. When I first looked at the image it made me think of an Olympic gymnast getting ready to do a head stand or a flip!

[Diane Miller]

Beautiful -- sharp where it needs to be and incredible match of colors between the dragonfly and the BG.

[Mitch Haimov]

VWD, Jonathan. Love the BG! Interesting subject and pose, good sharpness. I wish the dragon were further back in the frame, such that tip of abdomen about the same distance from left edge as from top edge.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks for the comments everyone. The composition proved a little problematical for me, I initially made a 4:3 portrait, then 4:3 landscape then this one which is arbitrary, the problem was all the empty space yet I wanted to show the harmonious colouration.

[Mitch Haimov]

That BG with its harmonious coloration is sweet. Another alternative would be a square crop.

[christopher galeski]

nice image,like the BG,pose and perch.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Jon. You nailed this one! Pose, sharpness, light, and background are all first rate! I very seldom see this obelisk pose here in northern Minnesota - I guess our weather isn't hot enough - which is fine with me. I'm wondering if a bit more room at the bottom would help - but maybe the perch starts to get "messy" looking down there? Excellent work!

[OvidiuCavasdan]

Great pose, the details and sharpness are very good, I esp like the colors in the BG. Excellent.

[Jason Stander]

Sublime... haven't any other words... WD Jonathan!

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Jon, superb detail captured in this, those tiny hairs show up so well - great pp work. I really the overall colours in this.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thank you very much everyone, much appreciated.