Canon 1D MK111 Canon 180mm macro ISO 800 1/200 sec f11
I took this shot in 2008 and lost all my raw files from one particular outing - luckily my pal saved a duplicate set on his PC!!
I deliberately left the background as it because this is how it was. Maybe I should have cropped a little from the left?
All C & C welcome.
Fantastic! Everything that should be sharp is. I also like that the angled composition avoids the corners. And, of course, the excellent subject. No cropping from the left needed! Had the background been further away--and therefore more oof--would have been nice, but I wouldn't try to change that in Photoshop. And blurring it with a larger aperture would have risked loss of sharpness where you need it. An excellent piece of work.
I'm going to leave most of the comments to the insect photographers on this forum.
You got a nicely blurred bg and the damselfly is in a nice position. The diagonal composition is very nice. Adding a curves or contrast adjustment might help the insect stand out more from the bg. I'm partial to tightly cropped images, so i would suggest some cropping left and top--but this is a personal preference. You might clone out the dark spot on the leaf.
Hi Jon, that's good news that your photos were saved! Great clarity and lighting on this and the angle of the damsel couldn't be better. I agree with Anita about cropping from the left and maybe a small amount from the top.....I think this would look more balanced with the eyes closer to a ROT position. The light stripe behind the wings is a bit problematic but it's not a deal breaker.....I would try to at least tone down the bright area near the top of this stripe. Overall this is very well done and with a few minor tweaks it should look even better!
Hi Jonathan. Overall, this is very nicely done! Excellent sharpness throughout, nice even light, and a pleasing diagonal comp. The comp works for me, as presented, but cropping some from the left would be an effective alternative. While the background is "how it was," I agree with Ken that toning down the light area above the wings wound make the image stronger. If this was mine, I would remove the dark spot on the leaf as it is drawing my eye away from the damselfly. You might also try increasing the contrast a bit to give the damselfly a little more pop. These are just some small tweaks that I think will take this already strong image to the next level. :)