Morning Dragon
Aug, 2014Views
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Awards
Top Shot Award 22
Superb Composition
Top Choice
Peer Award
Outstanding Creativity
Absolute Masterpiece
Superior Skill
All Star
Magnificent Capture
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Behind The Lens
Location
I was actually in the middle of taking a natural light shot of something completely different when this beautiful dragonfly decided to land on a blade of grass not 2 feet from me. I laid down on the grass beside it as it was drinking some dew.Time
It was early morning, the grass was still wet and the sun was still rather low.Lighting
The sun was low in the sky, golden but not orange. I also just had lens and camera with no accessory lighting equipment.Equipment
Sony A99, Minolta 100mm f2.8 Macro, nothing else.Inspiration
Raw opportunity, I was fortunate to be right next to a dragonfly that landed close enough that I wouldn't scare it away by laying on the grass close by.Editing
Lightroom (Exposure adjustments, a little toning) Photoshop (Sharpening, light Dodge & Burn)In my camera bag
Sony A99 Minolta 100mm f2.8 Sigma 50mm f1.4 Minolta 20mm f2.8 Sony HVL 60M FlashFeedback
For me the challenge of this shot was focusing. The Minolta 100mm macro goes 1:1 just under a foot from the subject. Laying on the ground and trying to move so little as to not scare away the subject while getting that perfect focus was challenging. At the same time this dragonfly wanted to migrate to adjacent blades of grass while I was focusing...it was a bit of a tease. In the end, I found the plane of focus manually then when I got close enough I quickly switched to auto and pulled in the exact focus. Also note that the aperture was at f8, if I had a larger aperture like f2.8 the depth of field would have blown out the shot and I wouldn't have gotten the wings or most of the body in focus. Truth be told, the subject could have been overall sharper if I had been at f11 or higher but i did not have additional lighting equipment to go very low on the aperture and I was pressed for time.
