DragonFlies that I shot today at Two Ponds NWR - Comments welcome

[cgipson1]

May want to work with the gamma curves instead of bright/contrast for these as well. For direct sunlight problems I find that a reverse "S" curve works well. Increases dynamic range of low and high lights at the expens of the mid-tones. This allows more detail at the bottom and top end and if you do it carefully you don't lose much in the mid-tones. Also try gamma adjust on individual colors to see if you can bring a greater separation of background and body etc.

hahaha.. to be honest, that is beyond my current skills with PS... I am learning more every day, but haven't had time to sit down and get serious about it. When I started using a camera, Photoshop didn't exist yet... and I didn't start playing with it until a couple of years ago.. when a friend gave me his old version 6. I understand the concept of what you are saying.. just not sure how best to implement it! I am usually out shooting when I have free time... guess I need to allocate some time to hit the books on PS. Need to upgrade to CS5 too... but $$$ OUCH! lol!

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[Mia331]

Wow great job, I really like these! That is amazing to have captured the first one in flight and I really like the 4th one with the colors and it almost looks like he/she is smiling lol

The grasshopper is cool but kinda has freaky look to me...dont think I have ever seen one that close, crisp and clear! great job!

What settings did you have the camera set at for these shots? (aperture, shutter, iso etc..)

[cgipson1]

Wow great job, I really like these! That is amazing to have captured the first one in flight and I really like the 4th one with the colors and it almost looks like he/she is smiling lol

The grasshopper is cool but kinda has freaky look to me...dont think I have ever seen one that close, crisp and clear! great job!

What settings did you have the camera set at for these shots? (aperture, shutter, iso etc..)

Thank you! I was shooting the Dragonflies in Aperture Priority.. as they move way too fast for me to be constantly changing things in manual... Apertures ranged from F5.6 to F16 depending the light. My main goal was to keep the shutter speed above 250 and maintain some decent bokeh / DOF... which I why was was adjusting the aperture. ISO ranged from 100 to 640, again depending on the light and how much DOF I wanted.

The Grasshopper was actually shot with my macro lens, Manual mode with flash sync speed of 250, F22 and ISO 400 using a diffused SB-900, in case you are interested.

[Mia331]

Thanks! Good to know

[cgipson1]

May want to work with the gamma curves instead of bright/contrast for these as well. For direct sunlight problems I find that a reverse "S" curve works well. Increases dynamic range of low and high lights at the expens of the mid-tones. This allows more detail at the bottom and top end and if you do it carefully you don't lose much in the mid-tones. Also try gamma adjust on individual colors to see if you can bring a greater separation of background and body etc.

I have been playing with your suggestion.. but not happy with the results. If you would like to do an edit on the ones above... feel free, that would give me an example and something to shoot for... Thanks!

[Thunder_o_b]

You do seem to have a talent for catching them in flight Charlie

[ArtphotoasiA]

Really amazing shot.... make me want to try macro!

[cgipson1]

Really amazing shot.... make me want to try macro!

Thank you!

[TheFantasticG]

I saw the thread, got excited, checked the date on the op, got deflated... on the other hand, I do like #1 and #3. #3 the most of the dragons for the composition and focus on the wings. Dead center is deadly? Not in #3 to these eyes.