one down none to go ! + ADJUSTED REPOST.

It sounds like the lack of Dragons was not confined to Cheshire!!!
Here also just one male Broadbodied chaser, that was Kamikaze to the extent it bounced of the lens front.

So it was that, some soggy and numb bum later this was the days score.
A female Black tailed skimmer, I think!!

Your critique is welcome.

D300
Program: Aperture Priority
Metering: Spot
Exposure Time: 1/60 sec
Ev Bias: -1/3
F Number: 13
Focal Length: 180mm Sigma 180 3.5
ISO: 200
Exif Contrast: Normal
Exif Saturation: Normal
Exif Sharp: Low
Lens: 180mm F/3.5
WB Mode: AUTO
AF Mode: AF-S

Nice sharp picture. Well composed. May be next time a more blurred BG I think.

Well captured Paul - not the easiest odanata to get close to

Wish mine up here would put in an appearance

For me the image looks too sharp and your BG is a bit harsh because of f13 and your subject to BG distance isn't far enough.

Especially with macro lenses THINK BACKGROUND - use your DoF preview button to check it - you'd be suprised, just shifting your PoV a foot to one side can change your BG immensely

Hi Paul,

I like this shot, but I agree with Andy that the background is a bit busy. It also looks a bit 'over-processed', maybe a bit too much sharpening or contrast has made it looks a bit unnatural.

Cheers,

Dan.

Hi Paul,

first off I wish the image was mine

but have to agree with Dan that it looks a bit over processed and the background is a bit busy. Still wish it was mine though.

Perhaps a bit of a rework and repost might me worth a try ?

Still a fine shot though


Ian

Hi Paul,

Fine shot, like it a lot, for me I can live with the busy background as the subject is quite impressive but it seems to have been over sharpened as I can see a slight halo.

Still, easy to rectify and re process, but that said still a great shot. (Wish I could capture one of these)

cheers

Colin

Thanks for your comments gents, and agree with all of them, damn.
so with that I have dropped the contrast back a tad and blurred the BG
so hope better?

Hi Paul

I think that this is an excellent shot - I know we all like a blurred background, but then you wouldn't have had the depth of field, and anyway - that's the nature of where you find them. If anything, it's the upper left background 45 degree OOF stick that is the only distraction.



Mark

Much better Paul


Ian

The dragonfly itself looks great but the iron railing spoils it for me.

Paul...

Please please when making adjustments for a repost, don't do them on the file you have already posted, start from afresh from an original file... here you are adding more processing to a file that is already overprocessed.

We have a definate lack of specimens at the moment, but that should start to improve now... Andy's advice is the best.. use the DoF preview, look beyond the subject... , you cannot rescue a slightly busy bg by gaussian blur, it always shows and does not look natural, I would rather see the bg slightly busy the artificially blurred...

A super specimen...

Look forward to more as I am sure as the season gets going fully you will get your eye in...

All been said already, you now have a perch in the territory, might be worth doing some gardening and revisiting the site changing your position to suit the distance from the BG. I often use small perches over water bodies and eventually they will take up residence on them for a while which is great and helps with the topics already discussed.

kind regards,

Brett.

Thank you all for tha feedback and I have noted it all carefully as I get to grips with the MACRO thingy I am sure things will improve. thanks again.