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Dragonfly with Prey
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Dragonfly with Prey

by Roger Leekam

Gallery: Macro & Close-upPosted July 21, 2013152 views4 comments
Canon7D,Canon400mm 5.6lens,1/2500sec,f7.1,ISO500. Afternoon sun.
12-spotted Skimmer shot as he was landing on the stick at the extreme closest range of the 400lens. Some sharpening & cloning of small stick on left w PS.
Questions:1)Sharp enough? 2)Is it worth trying to remove this stick?
3) Background noise?

Comments

4 comments
Comment posted by Ian Wolfenden on July 21, 2013 at 2:39 PM
Like it, Roger - a great moment to have captured ! The insect shows up well against the bg - the wing to the R is maybe a touch soft but that does not bother me particularly. The stick is part of the action - keep it I would say, and I see no noise to speak of. My only slight nit is that I would like to see the dragonfly higher, with a bit more of the stick in view perhaps.
Registered on May 18, 2007, 1108 Posts, 7647 Comments
Comment posted by scott lanz on July 21, 2013 at 11:04 PM
Hi Roger. To me, this is one of those "oh, so close. :mad: " images. To me, the only part of the image that looks acceptably sharp (for printing, that is) is the upper left wing. Really too bad, too, because it was almost one heck of a capture. I like it for viewing this size on the web, but I just don't think the head of the dragonfly and its prey have sufficient detail for printing. Sorry. As for removing the stick, I would if I were going to print it, but given what I said, I probably would not. No problem at all with the bg noise. Keep trying. You're getting really close on some amazing but very challenging DF images.
Registered on November 14, 2003, 840 Posts, 12902 Comments
Comment posted by Roger Leekam on July 22, 2013 at 6:44 AM
Thanks, Scott. I also had a feeling that it wasn't sharp enough in the crucial areas (but then I tend to have that feeling if I look at any of my images for long enough). I may play with this some more as I don't intend to print.
Registered on May 28, 2009, 83 Posts, 646 Comments
Comment posted by John Tobias on July 26, 2013 at 11:11 AM
May not be technical perfect, but a fine capture of the action! IMHO, either more stick or no stick. The BG supports the dragonfly nicely. Thanks for sharing.
Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments