Dragon Fly for advice please

[ucci]

Found this poor chap at back door in a parlous state. Somehow, despite many shots and fiddling I just couldn't seem to 'nail it.' One of the effects I was chasing was the water droplets on its wings. I was also interested in the shadow pattern cast by the wings. Comments would be very much appreciated. Maybe I should concentrate on simpler subjects to improve my technique before being too ambitious?
Ken

[Markvetnz]

I think the biggest problem is your depth of field. At 4.5 in a macro situation you are always going to get a thin focal plane. This results in the droplets and the shadow being out of focus. You could shoot this at F16 or even F22 to bring the whole image into focus and then you'll get the wing shadow patterns you are after. Did you use some off camera lighting?

[ktuli]

Ken,

If the poor guy was dead already, you could prop it up by applying a dab of glue to the head of a straight pin, then putting the pin into your shooting surface. The benefit there is that you will get a bit more distance between the wings and the surface for the shadow to fall on. It would also give you some more shooting angles than the one you're stuck with here.

Nice specimen though! Keep at it!

- Bill

[ucci]

I think the biggest problem is your depth of field. At 4.5 in a macro situation you are always going to get a thin focal plane. This results in the droplets and the shadow being out of focus. You could shoot this at F16 or even F22 to bring the whole image into focus and then you'll get the wing shadow patterns you are after. Did you use some off camera lighting?

Thanks for advice. I did shoot a couple at F16 but they didn't work. Went to discard. And no I am not up to lighting as yet. Still working with natural light.
Cheers
Ken

[ucci]

Ken,

If the poor guy was dead already, you could prop it up by applying a dab of glue to the head of a straight pin, then putting the pin into your shooting surface. The benefit there is that you will get a bit more distance between the wings and the surface for the shadow to fall on. It would also give you some more shooting angles than the one you're stuck with here.

Thank you for helpful suggestions. I was pretty frustrated by the restricted angles which my set up provided and which stopped me from getting what I was trying to achieve. I still have the specimen and so will go and have a bash at trying what you suggest. Thank you.
Ken

Nice specimen though! Keep at it!

- Bill