We are now in prime dragonfly season and many familiar species are reappearing, like this beautiful Needham’s Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula needhami) that I spotted on Wednesday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.
I love the beautiful orange-gold color on the leading edges of the wings of this species, a color that really sparkles in the sunlight. I was fortunate to capture this dragonfly in a way that blurred the background. Depth of field is always an issue in situations like this and you can probably see that the tips of the wings are not in sharp focus, but I am ok with that and think it helps draw the viewer’s eyes to the dragonfly’s main body and, in particular, to its wonderful eyes.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
I think that every decision you made in the creation of this image was correct. It’s gorgeous.
Thanks, Michael.
Nice Mike! Depth of field is always a problem with Dragonflies. I usually shoot with my lens not stopped down too much to keep a “smoother, cleaner” background. Around f/5.6, and if the dragonfly is cooperating I shoot 2 or hopefully 3 images at different focus points – Near Wing, Head or Body, then Far Wing tip. Then focus stack them in Photoshop. But quite often they do not cooperate!
That seems to be a good approach, Reed. I have never tried focus stacking with dragonfly photos. As you note, dragonflies are often uncooperative, but at times I will find a particularly docile one and perhaps I will be able to try this technique.