Some dragonflies seems to seek the highest possible perch and I love photographing them with the sky and the clouds as the simple backdrop. I spotted this female Needham’s Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula needhami) last week at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.
I was thrilled that I was able to maneuver myself into a shooting position almost directly below the dragonfly and shoot upwards at a sharp angle. I was also happy to capture the beautiful golden markings near the leading edges of the wings, one of the most distinctive characteristics of this species that is quite common where I live.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
That’s a great capture, Mike. Hanging in at the top.
Thanks, Dan. I am amazed at how well they can hangout at the tip of the vegetation, even when the breezes are blowing.
Nice Mike! They do seem to like high perches! Many times when I am photographing them close to the car, they land on the car’s antenna.
Thanks, Reed. Most of the time when I am photographing dragonflies, I have to park in a parking lot and walk to the locations, so it is rare, alas, for me to have dragonflies landing on my car.
Beautiful photography, wow. 😊
Thanks, Suzette.
Another great photo, Mike!
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Thanks, Mitzy.
Wonderful portrait. You’ve really captured the delicacy and poise of this dragonfly and I love the composition.
Thanks, Laura. As you might suspect, I moved around a bit to get the break between the clouds to line up with the vegetation stalk.
Great detail & tones. Did you bracket toward overexposure to keep adequate information in the shadows?
Thanks, Gary. You have a sharp eye. In some of my shots, I used exposure compensation and overexposed by 2/3 of a stop, but for this one that I chose to process, I did not overexpose. When I processed the raw image, I increased the exposure by +.25, lightened the shadows, and lowered the clarity. A lot of time when I am shooting up like that, I risk having the image turn into a silhouette, so I was paying a lot of attention to the shadows as I shot.
And that extra attention really shows. I hope your followers have employed the double-click to appreciate what you’ve done with this one.
Thanks, Gary. I have a diverse group of folks who read my blog postings. Those who are photographers may well be interested in examining all of the details, but there are others who may be quite satisfied in gaining an overall impression of the subject or simply appreciating its beauty. I try to make my postings accessible to as wide a spectrum of readers as possibly by trying to be interesting and informative and not overly technical.
When I enter heaven’s pearly gates and St Peter presents me with wings, these are the ones I want, please 🙂
Golden wings to match your golden halo 🙂
Haha.. have you seen my tweet? at https://twitter.com/ExploringColour/status/1296642818807443456 🙂
Sweet tweet.
Nice angle, capture, and processing, Mike.
Thanks, Steve.