Teneral Dragon

[Ken Childs]

Canon EOS REBEL XT
Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro
Av mode
1/250"
F8
ISO: 200
LR & CS3

A freshly emerged Calico Pennant. I cloned out a few blades of grass that looked messy. I'm thinking that maybe I should have gone with a tighter crop with less space on the top and maybe the bottom too.

[Randy Stout]

Ken:

Lovely display of iridescence on the wings, look so fresh and clean. Sharp, well exposed, nice DOF, pleasing angle in frame.

I would crop down from the top just enough to eliminate the little sprig at the top of the perch, tone down the light tan horizontal/diagonal grasses, esp. LUC, clone out grass stem entering the RLC.

Really neat.

Cheers

Randy

[Ken Childs]

Thanks, Randy. How does this look?

[Randy Stout]

Ken;

To my eye you have cleaned up and simplified the image, which as a general concept appeals to me.
I might blur the grass where it arcs up into the RUC. I am viewing it on my home monitor now, and the iridescence is even better!

Thanks!

Randy

[Mike Moats]

Hey Ken, the D-fly is awesome, great details and the colors and lighting in the wings really makes the image. I can see it was close quarters and tough to blur out the BG which is the images only down fall. I do like the second version better by elininating some of the BG

[Julie Brown]

Super sharp image Ken! If you just took this, I'm jealous that you are seeing the insects already.:D

[Allen Sparks]

Beautiful shot - these guys love to perch low in the grass. Wonderful focus and clarity to the image. I also love the iridescence of the wings - they sure are shiny when they first emerge.

[Markus Jais]

Great shot. I think the repost is better. Great colors and wonderful sharpness. I like it that the whole dragonfly is sharp.

Markus

[Ken Childs]

Super sharp image Ken! If you just took this, I'm jealous that you are seeing the insects already.:D

This is from last year. I think we're still a few weeks away from the first dragons of the year so there's no need to be jealous...yet. :)

[Julie Kenward]

Incredible irridescence, Ken! Wow! The repost is definitely better - it sure cleaned up a few of the distractions. I'd love to see this with an all green or all black BG - it's just such a beauty!

[Stuart Frohm]

I think this is the most strikingly beautiful dragonfly photo I've seen. The wings are gorgeous, and the overall sharpness of the dragonfly is splendid.
Here's an extremely mild dissent on the cropping out of the little sprig at the top of the perch. With that eliminated, the green stem is potentially mildly confusing because it looks like part of the dragonfly.

[Charles Wesley]

Ken,

I agree this is a most pleasing image. Really like the repost. It's a very clean DF image.
Thanks for sharing Mr. DF man...
_______________________
Charlie Wesley
St Augustine Beach, FL

[Don Lacy]

Ken, The iridescence of the wings is wonderful for me they are more then enough to hold my eye from going to the BG