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Azph β Emerald damselfly (Lestes sponsa)
#bugs #damselfly #emerald #insects #lestes #macro #sponsa #bugslife #closeup #insect #macrophotography #macrocloseup #azph
Published: 2015-03-22 07:20:00 +0000 UTC; Views: 534; Favourites: 30; Downloads: 0
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Comments: 22
First Impression:beautiful portrait of a stunning invertebrate.
I have not read much on your history, equipment or background, but it is really good image.
Composition: I like the face centered, though with the depth of field you chose an image with the stalk about 25% to the right would be highly desirable, the big issue for me is the top left wing leads the viewers eye right off the edge of the image.[ I understand that you may have been trying to remove a distracting background element, or not scare your subject.] Sorry, but I'm old school enough to be a Law of Thirds guy on composition.
Color: If you just told me it is a picture of a blue bug against a green background, I might be not very excited, but this works very well since the green is textured with the greybrown.
Technique: Your choice with the Depth of Field is terrific the sharpness of the leading edge of the left side wings is eye-catching. same with the leg hairs.
Were the compound eyes retouched ? the eye nearest the stalk shows some small line like maybe it was re-pasted.
I don't have a sense of how far you background was from your subject.. could you have pulled you DoF out slightly and given focus to the right wings and tail as well with out loosing the subject? [Seriously just a question.. or was that contrast with blur & focus what you were going for?]
Final thoughts: Nice work. shots like yours are the ones that leave me wondering " Do I need better lenses, or more patience?"
You are welcome to review my work in the process of accepting or rejecting my critique, [opinions and advice are heartily welcomed]
Mike
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Thank you very much for taking the time to write this very nice Critique!
It's not only nice to get a good review but also a well-written one.
To try to answer your questions.
The image as a whole has been retouched. I have applied Unsharpen Mask in PS two times just to add that extra little crisp to the details. As for the eyes, nothing extra has been added. These kind of bugs have really strange eyes though, they often look like they are out of focus or edited because of the many facettes in them.
And for the DoF question:
Well, when it comes to bugs I always want the depth of field to be as long as possible to be able to get as much details into a photos as possible. However, when one does macro shots it is impossible to get it all. With this lens and with this distance the depth is about a centimetre before it starts to get blurry. This year I will try to take more photos from the side of the dragonflies to get the whole body.
And for the final question: Patience over gear! Always!
Thanks a lot again
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she is beautiful Ive never seen one that colour detail is blooming well good .....fair playΒ
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Glad you like. I think you have these ones too.
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Not that colour though......Green and brown only.....Those ones are beautifulΒ
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Yeah i love that green metallic color!
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Tack sΓ₯ mycket!
Kul att du gillade den!
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Wow amazing! Good tip, that with the morning...!
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No, it hard as hell to get close to them but late summer last year I found out that they are very easy to get nearby in the morning before the sun has heated them up. So that's something I will put to practise this year.
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And I guess that counts for most bugs
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