Unexpected visitor

[zhenya]

I was quite bored yesterday until this quite large dragonfly landed on my balcony and stayed there for a photo shoot.
Enjoy!


A tad closer..


And closer still.

[weez1959]

Wow! He's gorgeous all over but I love the eyes!

[Poseidon]

Great catch Gene! I have wanted to try insects, but can never find the time.

[charlie]

That's neat!!!!

[almostdiva]

SO cool..

His wings look like lace up close!

Rebecca

[zhenya]

Thanks, guys and gals!
He proved to be very entertaining for all three of my granddaughters who happened to be visiting us that day.

Mike, the last image was taken with my 70-210mm lens that I take out about once a year... It is pretty decent glass for close up work once you learn it's ups and downs. Overall the pictures would be so much better (and natural) if I could have shot them at the garden or something. Sitting on the concrete ledge he didn't afford me any good lighting as the sun was shining directly into the lens and I had to take evasive measures and use flash to counteract. You probably noticed the white areas around the concrete, they were supposed to be blue sky...

Oh,well...

[okcalla]

the camera must be somthing... as im sure the photographer knows a thing or 2 as well but the clarity is amazing.

[Poseidon]

the camera must be somthing... as im sure the photographer knows a thing or 2 as well but the clarity is amazing.

Sorry in advance...

When you eat a GREAT dinner, do you compliment the POTS and PANS or the COOK? ;)

It is a pet peeve of mine, and I am sure I need to get over it, but for some reason it really bugs me when the camera is the reason the picture turned out so well. Please, okcalla don't take offense to me, it is a common thing, to see the camera get a compliment, I just don't understand it.

[zhenya]

Sorry in advance...

When you eat a GREAT dinner, do you compliment the POTS and PANS or the COOK? ;)

It is a pet peeve of mine, and I am sure I need to get over it, but for some reason it really bugs me when the camera is the reason the picture turned out so well. Please, okcalla don't take offense to me, it is a common thing, to see the camera get a compliment, I just don't understand it.

Yeah, Mike, we need to get over it...

I never get offended, though, that the camera gets credit (and it should in it;s own right). It usually gets quite the reaction when I tell peeps that my camera is like a dinosaur that been extinct but doesn't know it yet...

[Poseidon]

Yup, I'm getting over it too. I'm going to find some bugs and give this a try.... I wish time were as easy to find as BUGS!!!

[weez1959]

I agree with Mike on this one cuz I have the same camera as some of you guys (Canon Digital Rebel XT) and MOST of my pics stink. Skill is definately required IMO!

[charlie]

Gene, if your camera is a dinosaur, what does that make mine?????????????? What came before dinosaurs???

[okcalla]

No offense taken but if i gave you a POS camera as great a photographer as you may be the resulting pics will likely follow suit. for the sake of arguement along the line of your pan theory did the horse win the derby or did the jockey?

[Poseidon]

No offense taken but if i gave you a POS camera as great a photographer as you may be the resulting pics will likely follow suit. for the sake of arguement along the line of your pan theory did the horse win the derby or did the jockey?

Gary Fong once shot a wedding with a Canon G9 just to prove this point. Gary is a $40,000 wedding photographer, shooting with a $500 camera. If you give me a camera that is not broken, and has full manual options, I will provide comparable results to what I take with my 1D.

The BIGGEST technical problem that people fall into is not working within the capabilities of the camera. If you know what a camera can and can't do, then you can get excellent results. A properly exposed, in focus image can be cropped to get closer, but an image that is OOF (out of focus) or not properly exposed is garbage.

Oh, and BOTH the horse AND jockey won the race, because they are better then the sum of their parts as individuals. So that analogy isn't quite the same. ;)

Thanks for the healthy conversation! I enjoy a good civil debate every once in a while.

[zhenya]

Gene, if your camera is a dinosaur, what does that make mine?????????????? What came before dinosaurs???

Well, yours must be the dinosaur that got extinct and knew it?

Seriously, though, really good photographers make cheap cameras look real good. Just check out some of the online pix taken with some $200 P&S cams, it'll blow your mind.

PS. I can't add much to what Mike said in his last post. Nothing can replace skills but good gear goes a long way without question. Would I take better pictures with Mike's camera? It would probably afford more range for me but I rather take all his "L" glass...

[ab420]

Nice shots!

[zhenya]

Thanks, ab420!

I finally were able to get home and use my photoshop CS3 to make some adjustments to the image. Was able to clean up his eye from the reflections and I think the overall image came out better that way.

[Poseidon]

Lookin' Good Gene!

My only nitpick is his tail... I wish I could see all of it.