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Dragonfly on Grass Blade/Repost

Gallery: Macro & Close-upPosted October 31, 201343 views8 comments

Last summer dragonflies and damselflies were two of my favorite photo subjects. This photo is uncropped, and is one of the few shots I captured with the wings on a plane perpendicular to the camera lens, so they are both in focus. The head looks a bit fuzzy, though.

Can anyone suggest improvements in processing in LR4? Maybe the picture could be tilted a little.

Pentax K-5
DA* 300mm F4 at f/5.6, 1/250 sec, iso 400

Comments

8 comments

Comment posted by scott lanz on November 1, 2013 at 6:49 PM

Good job aligning the wings with the plane of focus, Randy. I like the green on green colors. As for the comp, it did not occur to me to tilt the image until I read your post. I think I would prefer it as posted. My only suggested would be to try burning some of the brighter spots or areas in the bg like the spot above the upper right wing.

Registered on November 14, 2003, 840 Posts, 12902 Comments

Comment posted by Randy Runtsch on November 1, 2013 at 7:13 PM

Scott, thank you for the suggestion to try to burn in the bright spots. I will give it a try, as that spot above the right wing stands out.

Registered on October 30, 2013, 50 Posts, 445 Comments

Comment posted by Randy Runtsch on November 1, 2013 at 8:40 PM

I burned in the white spots a bit and touched up the colors. Thanks again, Scott, for the suggestion.

Registered on October 30, 2013, 50 Posts, 445 Comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on November 3, 2013 at 5:40 PM

I agree with Scott, this green on green color scheme works well Randy.
Good plane of focus using f/5.6, although a bit more DOF would've brought its head in better..
One suggestion is too give your comp a bit less bottom, more up top.

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

Comment posted by Randy Runtsch on November 3, 2013 at 6:21 PM

Hi, Bill. Thanks for the suggestion, but can you please explain what you mean by "give your comp a bit less bottom, more up top." I haven't communicated a lot with other digital photographers until now, so might not be sure about all of the terminology yet.

Registered on October 30, 2013, 50 Posts, 445 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Fach on November 3, 2013 at 8:33 PM

Randy: Pretty good plane of focus management. I tend to try to shoot butterflies and dragonflies with their wings on a bit of a diagonal going corner to corner. It allows you to actually fill the frame a bit more with the subject if it will allow you to get close enough. I do like this as is though. Nicely done.>=))>

PS: Randy: Not sure if Howard will revisit to answer your question but what he is referring to is to move the DF down in the frame a bit and have more space above its head. A good rule to consider is that when you have a critter seeming to "look" in one direction it is generally best to have more space in the frame ahead of where it is looking instead of behind. This gives the impression that the subject is looking into the frame and not out of it. This even works with flowers that are tilted a bit. Hope this makes sense. Please feel free to e-mail me if you have any other questions.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1805 Posts, 26981 Comments

Comment posted by Randy Runtsch on November 4, 2013 at 7:01 AM

Bill, thank you for explaining the placement of the subject in the frame. Here is another version with more space above the head an a slight tilt of the body to the rights. These are improvements in my opinion.

Registered on October 30, 2013, 50 Posts, 445 Comments

Comment posted by Scott Fricke on November 4, 2013 at 4:00 PM

Registered on January 19, 2007, 133 Posts, 1448 Comments