Dragonfly

[JeniM1964]

My first upload. Caught this beauty whilst watering the garden yesterday.

[Shadowman]

Nicely composed.

[royent]

Cropped too tight, you.ve cut the far wing which is also out of focus
Sorry
Roy

[Geoff F]

Very difficult subjects, Jeni. I usually take a quick initial shot for identification then attempt to manoeuvre myself into a perfect camera angle; by which time my 'model' frequently decides it is time to move on. So I only get the first image.

Small image but the body and legs seem OK to me.

[JeniM1964]

Thank you Geoff. That's precisely what happened.

[Stagecoach]

My first upload. Caught this beauty whilst watering the garden yesterday.

A good effort Jeni as these are not easy subjects to capture.

As with all critters the most important thing is to get the eyes in focus.

With respect to the wings of which part are out of focus it's extremely difficult and almost impossible to achieve a focus depth of field that will give sharpness throughout their span when shooting close up at this angle. Not achieving focus throughout the entire critter is expected and must not be taken as a negative.

[JeniM1964]

Thank you Grahame for the tip re focusing on the eyes.

[FootLoose]

Good effort Jeni. I like the way you have composed this image so that the body and wings form diagonals in the frame.

[John 2]

A good effort Jeni as these are not easy subjects to capture.

As with all critters the most important thing is to get the eyes in focus.

With respect to the wings of which part are out of focus it's extremely difficult and almost impossible to achieve a focus depth of field that will give sharpness throughout their span when shooting close up at this angle. Not achieving focus throughout the entire critter is expected and must not be taken as a negative.

Agree with Graham on this. One way of achieving overall sharpness is by flattening the angle (if you are quick enough), keeping you distance with a standard lens and then relying on a crop in post production to give you a close up. Quality can suffer this way but quality isn't always the point.