White Tail + Re-Post

Gallery: WildlifePosted July 1, 201162 views9 comments

White Tail Dragonfly, Plathemis lydia. Believe this is the smaller Western White Tail, P. subornata. Taken today at the pond with oof lily pads in BG.

Olympus E-5
50-200mm F2.6-3.5 @ 200mm
aperture priority
1/200sec @F10 -0.3 EV
flash off
ISO 200
AF
Tripod
approx 80% of FF

Large view provided

Thanks for all comments.

Comments

9 comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on July 1, 2011 at 8:54 PM

Excellent!
Tack-sharp and great pose. I like the comp and BG too.
The abdomenn seems a little bright from here..
Nice work!

Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Charlie Baugh on July 1, 2011 at 9:32 PM

From here too Sandy. It has been diminished some and as so often, I did not want to overdo the darkening, so I under "dooded" it.

I'll work on it some more. Thanks

Registered on April 18, 2011, 329 Posts, 1985 Comments

Comment posted by Arthur Tiutenko on July 2, 2011 at 6:16 AM

Very nice colours and sharpness, Charlie. The only thing that I would suggest were to reduce the the noise on the background. It is particularly visible to the left of the dragonfly. I'd also agree with Sandy that the right side of the tail looks burnt out, i.e. white.

Registered on July 9, 2009, 9 Posts, 95 Comments

Comment posted by Vincent Grafhorst on July 2, 2011 at 1:43 PM

A beautiful specimen well captured Charlie. i do echo the comments about bright abdomen and noisy BG though. Further I must say that I like the principle of the addition of the lily pads in the BG, but feel that it does not really work as presented here. Particularly the big bright one on the top edge is not helping the composition, which feels unbalanced. In this case I would try a tighter crop.

Registered on February 24, 2006, 504 Posts, 7203 Comments

Comment posted by Charlie Baugh on July 2, 2011 at 3:09 PM

Thanks NPN pros for pointing out what I should have taken care of before posting. Here is a reworked version.

Registered on April 18, 2011, 329 Posts, 1985 Comments

Comment posted by Arthur Tiutenko on July 2, 2011 at 4:59 PM

Wow! That's a lot better!!!

Registered on July 9, 2009, 9 Posts, 95 Comments

Comment posted by Charlie Baugh on July 2, 2011 at 5:42 PM

Danka, Arthur.

Registered on April 18, 2011, 329 Posts, 1985 Comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on July 2, 2011 at 7:10 PM

Great job with this Charlie, detail & DOF looks good. I've shot these myself, they're a real pain to expose correctly with that white abdomen and dark wing color..Once it's (the abdomen) shot OE by more than a small amount, there's no real bringing it back.
Only suggestion would be to try a standard crop/comp for this, with less space top..This works ok too.
Well done & have a great 4th!

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Teller on July 2, 2011 at 11:44 PM

Nice detail and color. I like the second image better. It emphasizes the dragonfly.

Registered on August 23, 2010, 1162 Posts, 6692 Comments