Magical Dragonfly Photo

Photographer’s Note

While testing a new lens (not mine unfortunatly) that I am tending to bigh (soon I hope) I saw these red dragonflies hanging around and I decided why not?
I took this picture in 400 mm focal length and I was amused by the lens quality.
Those shining spots at the water made a magical background because of the shallow DOF.

I hope you will like this picture.
By the way this was the Canon 100-400L IS.

Liora, Porteplume, nwoehnl, Kenny10pin, DonQ, ephemere33, ma-tibou, rabani has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Liora (1857) 2004-08-23 14:26

It's a very beautiful photo Elroyie - I like the quality of the macro, but I think the what makes this one special is the wonderful background - fantastic sparkles and hint of green. Well done!

nima (656) 2004-08-23 15:21

wow! this is really cool. nice background blur and very nice colors. sharp red and green, i like it.
how much did you zoom? it is a great macro of a moving animal.
good luck

Porteplume (3257) 2004-08-23 15:24

After seeing so much dragonflies on TE & TN, I wouldn't have opened a thumbnail with another one... :o))) (Joking!)

But this picture especially attracted me by the glittering circles in the background - (AND the fly is beautiful too!) - It definitely makes a difference! Well done.

cgrindahl (6109) 2004-08-23 17:13

I'm suffering from lens envy here Elroyie...Stop it! ;-)

The jewel like quality of the background really raises this macro above the ordinary. As you say, this is magical. The foreground detail is extremely fine, as one would expect from a fine photographer with exceptional equipment. My eye tells me it wants the dragonfly to be higher in the composition, but don't ask me why. You obviously feel the same way about this composition, so....

Excellent work. I'll look forward to seeing what you do with that wonderful lens.

maphoto (8076) 2004-08-23 22:13

Very nice macro Elroyie, great effect in the background and good DOF, good work.

nwoehnl (120) 2004-08-24 8:34

Yes, it looks to me like you should definitely buy that lens, Elroyie ;-) Wonderful detail you got on the body and delicate wings of the dragonfly, and great effect with the sparkles of light in the background. Colors are really nice, too, beautiful catch.

Kenny10pin (19301) 2004-08-25 10:42

great macro pic here, very good work here, I like the redness of it, I havent seen one before in real life, well done and thanks for sharing

amitai (867) 2004-08-25 13:19

Marvelous picture.

DonQ (2623) 2004-08-26 3:31

This is real amazing view of also amazing creature. Bravo David. Very nice DOF, clean and sharp object with a beautiful red colour. I could name it "Red Fly Dragon". ;-)You testing of the lens quality was certainly more dan successful.
Well done.
Regards, DonQ.

yesterday (9787) 2004-08-28 11:28

God sharp, excellent light - color and contrast, I like the dot bagground of refletion light.

regards Kaj Nielsen

manny (21378) 2004-08-28 21:02

Cool. Very good DOF and compo. I like the fecct of those spots of light. Make the scene surreal.

hdl (6737) 2004-08-29 5:46

Perfect, David! The lens works very good; great details and colours. I agree with you on the background; the water reflections do make it look magical.

ephemere33 (9729) 2004-08-29 14:37

superbe effet de cette prise avec ces petites lucioles de lumières qui décorent admirablement ta photo...est-ce un film cokin spécial que tu as employé...tres belle composition tant de le détail de l'insecte que dans les couleurs, très bon cadrage...bravo...amicalement BI

Jeppe (18623) 2004-08-29 16:14

A wonderful main motif and a very fine (I would say excellent) background - truly a mastershot taken with full zoom I presume ;-)))

This could explain the effect and the DOF - thanks Elroyie.

Endy (1025) 2004-08-29 19:15

Nice macro of this dragonfly. A beautiful texture of the wings and body of the dragonfly. Also, an excellent contrast of red dragonfly with the pale background. Like you said, DOF creates a superb background.

ma-tibou (4566) 2004-08-30 5:16

Une bien belle macro David, les détails apparaissent à la perfection. Bravo.
Amitié.

jean-marie (3088) 2004-09-15 2:45

Splendide, quelle netteté du sujet !! La profondeur de champs est également pour beaucoup dans cette photo. Beau travail

saurabh (104) 2004-09-20 6:07

Shallow DoF was a great choice to achieve this sparkling magical effect on the bg. What sharpness you've got...even some hairs are visible on the twig.

rabani (9439) 2004-11-01 3:46

Canon 100-400L IS. I'm drooling for the lens just by looking at this capture. Pin sharp and attractive color saturation. Not only I like the picture but so is the L lens. The lens's aperture also makes quiet an interesting bouquette too.