[jake]

[IMG]http://[/IMG]
Having gone green eyed over some of the dragonfly photo's that have been posted I have chased a few around but everytime I got within range they flew away.
Then it happened.
Whilst enjoying life mooching around the Humber Peatlands Nature Reserve in glorious sunshine looking for snakes I spotted an emerging Dragonfly. It was on a reed with it's wings folded. It stayed like that for about half an hour making only slight movements then it spread its wings and after about 15 minutes flew away.
I used my Olympus E500 with a 35mm macro lens (70mm on 35mm) underexposed by 1/2 stop f19 1/45 second 200iso about 1.30pm. Didn't use 100iso as I wanted a good DOF. Maximised my chances by making the plane of the wings match the plane of the camera sensor as best I could.
So there it was sitting pretty. Unfortunately I had to put one foot in the lake to get the right angle and the wind was moving the reed about move than I would have liked.
Not pretending this was the only frame I took quite a few but that's one of the advantages of digital it doesn't cost you film.
PS sorry to dissapoint anyone who thought this was drugs related from the title!

[water]

And very nice it is too.I love the play of the light on the wings,really gives it that 3 dimensional feel.

[Markulous]

Nice one! Can see from the milky wings that it must've not been long unfurled - I've never got one in that situation.

Can see you know exactly how to get the best out of the image with camera angle - if you get time it's worth playing around with exposure as with camera at right angles you can afford to relax on the DOF, allowing the BG to blur

[AQ]

That is a very nice picture I will have to find that nature reserve. Sounds interesting especially the snakes.

[jake]

Thanks guys. That play of light on the wings is nice but it can easily burn the highlights out hence the half a stop under.
This part of the reserve is south of Hatfield close to the M18. There are warnings about Adders posted but I didn't see any. Locals tell me they are very common but your best chance of seeing one is in the morning. Watch where you put your feet

[JMitchell]

It's a nice shot, well captured, but I think you could have opened up in aperture because you don't look like you were too close, and the bg being in relatively clear focus, rather than all smooth, distracts a little bit.

[jake]

[IMG]http://[/IMG]
Used another image, chopped it tighter them burnt the background in more. Is this better? What do you think?
Did try selecting the Dragonfly and softening up the background but it didn't look right, those reeds are a very strong image. Also it would have taken many hours of work to retain the detail in the wings and soften the reeds behind the wings

[marcinklysewicz]

last one is good. nice details on wings. background could be more blurred but it's not a big problem.

[JMitchell]

Yeah that's much better, the dragonfly is much more the centrepice of the shot now, and the background is blurred better, could be more but it is not so much of a problem at all now.