Do you ever take shots and find that you like the way that the background turned out even more than the way the subject looked? That was the case with this image of a male Great Blue Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula vibrans) that I photographed this past weekend.
The lighting was a bit harsh and the pose is pretty ordinary, but I love the two-tone background, caused in part by the use of my 135-400mm telephoto zoom at its full extension.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
Indeed a great background. Nice shot.
Pretty smooooth!
I’m occasionally surprised by the background I get and am sometimes left wishing I knew what I did so I could do it again.
It’s usually a question of depth of field and the distance from the subject to the background. That’s the theory, but the practice is difficult. I usually worry more about getting the subject in focus and the background is a secondary concern.
Great shot, I like going to a very shallow DOF like F2.6 with my macro lens just to get the effect. 🙂
Thanks, Ed. I haven’t tried to get this effect with my macro lens (usually I am trying to close down the aperture to get greater depth of field), but may try it. This was shot at 400mm, which helps explain the really shallow depth of fleld.
It happens all the time, but it takes a good eye and an openness to the unexpected artistic possibilities to recognize it when it does. You’re there!