One of the main reasons why I love having a macro lens is that it that it lets me capture photos like this extreme close-up image of a male Eastern Pondhawk dragonfly (Erythemis simplicicollis) that I took yesterday at Green Spring Gardens, a historical, county-run garden in Alexandria, Virginia.
I have always been fascinated by the multi-faceted compound eyes of dragonflies and the blue-green eyes of the Eastern Pondhawk are particularly stunning. When I first caught sight of this dragonfly, he was sunning himself on a rock near the edge of a small pond. I kept low to the ground and approached him slowly. He didn’t fly away and seemed more curious about my presence than afraid.
For these shots, I rested the lens hood of the camera on the edge of the rock ledge to get this low, eye-to-eye perspective. This technique served to steady my camera, so I was able to capture a good deal of detail of the dragonfly’s face. In the initial photo, for example,which is a cropped version of the second image, you can see that the dragonfly has stubble on his chin. The third shot is a cropped version of the last photo, again to show greater detail and to draw the attention of viewers more directly to the eyes.
Do you think the shots are more effective when cropped or do you prefer the larger perspective images?
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
He is so cute. Wonderful photo!
Very cool macro shots! I prefer the cropped versions, I love to see every detail in his face. 🙂
Wonderful!
Mike, absolutely amazing! Another BEST for you!!
Thanks. Things came together pretty well for this shot. I had a cooperative subject and lots of light and was able to steady the camera on the ground to eliminate camera shake.
It’s hard for me to choose between the cropped and the larger images. Both are interesting in differing ways.
Thanks. I too think that both kinds of views have advantages (which is why I didn’t follow my first impulse and include only the cropped images). Thanks for weighing in with your thoughts.
What excites me about macro photography is being able to see things in nature that we wouldn’t ordinarily see, so I like the cropped shots.
I’d love to be able to see through those dragonfly eyes, just once.
I definitely think it would be cool to have the kind of vision that dragonflies have. My eyesight is so bad that peripheral vision is not at all clear for me, so it would be great to have a wider field of view.
Amazing shots! Those eyes are so beautiful and the chin stubble made me smile. I love all the photos.
Thanks, Marie. Out of my recent shots, these are among my real favorites–unusual and pretty distinctive.
Love the detail in the cropped shots.
Yes, that the joy of a macro lens. On those occasions when I am able to capture detail like that, I want to show it!
Quite right too.
The closer the better!