Skimmer Dragonfly In Crown Vetch

[Charles Wesley]

Here's a photo from my slides. It's a skimmer, I think, taken near the Blue Ridge Parkway of Virginia. I still have a place there. Unfortunately, it's a long ways from here.

Nikon N90S, Nikkor 200 mm. f/4.0 macro, Nikon SB 25 flash on MP and tripod. This photo was taken in June 1994 and I did not record any exposure information on the Kodachrome slide mount. Must not have stopped down past f/8.0 or the wing tips would be sharper. Cropped 20 percent. Sorry for all the crown vetch in the BG.

Epson Perfection 4990 Photo Scanner
Neat Image
PS/CS4
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Charlie Wesley
St. Augustine Beach, FL

[Julie Kenward]

Lovely image, Charlie. I'd take a little bit off the top so the eye stays down towards the flowers instead of floating up to the top and letting the perch carry it right on out of the frame.

The wings look pretty sharp but the body and head are a little soft...might try a bit more sharpening there. I like that it's sitting on a diagonal - that's a beautiful position you have him in.

[Markus Jais]

I like the saturated blue and green colors in the BG and the dragonfly. I like the placement of the dragonfly in the frame. I agree with Jules about sharpness.

Markus

[Allen Sparks]

Very nice image. It is hard to get dragonflies in with flowers so this is really nice. I agree with the other comments above.

[Ken Childs]

I also agree with what's already been said about this image. Those colors are wonderful!

FYI, this is a male Widow Skimmer.

[Charles Wesley]

Ken, Marcus, Allen & Jules,

Thanks for the kind comments. I have redone the image. Hope it's an improvement. Thanks for all the help.
Like to learn from others on our forum...
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Charlie Wesley
St. Augustine Beach, FL

[Vida van der Walt]

Love the colours in this Charlie. Good advice by Jules and I like the repost. This is one of those images that will look great blown up and hung on a wall.:)

[Julie Kenward]

I think you did very well Charlie. What a beautiful df!

[Charles Wesley]

Jules Allen & Vida,

Thanks for your kind remarks. I did not know it was difficult to get a DF near a flower. Just knew this guy did not like my shadow. I was lucky to get this photo IMO...
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Charlie Wesley
St Augustine Beach, FL

[Ken Childs]

Thanks for your kind remarks. I did not know it was difficult to get a DF near a flower.

Hey Charlie, it's not that it's difficult but that dragons aren't attracted to flowers like other bugs so you usually find them perched on less colorful plants. A colorful flower in any dragon shot is definitely a bonus!

[Charles Wesley]

Ken,

Thanks for the reply. That's what I thought. Can't seem to find as many dragons since I moved to Florida. My land in VA was near the Blue Ridge mountains and had many lakes, ponds and streams. After seeing all the great DF images on this site, I need to find habitat places around hear.

What features do you look for?
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Charlie Wesley
St Augustine Beach,FL

[Ken Childs]

I have 4 ponds on my property and there are many others on my neighbor's property so for this area, it's still water with lots of vegetation. Sometimes I'll push sticks into the shoreline at about a 45 degree angle over the water and dragons will perch on these. I also have some unused pasture that I let go semi-natural and I find many gathered there during the season. It's not unusual to find hundreds per acre there during spring and summer.