The Fairest of the Seasons

Critiques [Translate]

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• JeanMichel (2864)
• [2005-08-23 17:10]

Hi Paul,
Well done with these two. It's not your best shot of these, (I prefer the blue-tailed wheel) but I realize how difficult it is. They come out very nicely on the BG. The story is interesting and shows that near ponds, there's never a dull moment. Well observed, and you really have good eyes to notice what happened. Your WS is very instructive!

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• milloup (1704)
• [2005-08-23 17:30]
• [+]

Congrats, Paul, on this very sharp tandem ;-)
Did you get these with the AF of the camera, or did you have to focus manually? So far, I've always had to get similar shots by manual, as my AF is simply not fast enough to keep up - they continually slip out of the focus area and I have to find them again and start over :-((
I see you have both within DOF range at 5.6, I don't think my 300mm would do that at the distance I usually shoot from.
Mallards seem to thrive on a great variety of foods, I've seen once grab and munch a crunchy spider once ;-)

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• marhowie (34593)
• [2005-08-23 19:00]

Hello Paul, Very high degree of difficulty here, well done. I really enjoyed the duck chompin' down on the dragon in your workshop, very interesting addition to this post. Great stuff mf.

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• chiliu (6442)
• [2005-08-23 19:50]

Hi Paul,
Amazing capture!
The colour is very good, great lighting and composition.
TFS!

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• Fisher (8915)
• [2005-08-23 20:30]

Hi Paul,
Beautiful capture and well done on the composition and details.
I know why you like this kind of work, I went out a couple of weeks ago to a creek near by and saw huge Dflies. I also had them hover five feet away. Not only that, the sound of the flight is awesome.
Yep, a thrill indeed, friend. I know the trouble as well.
My compliments.!!!!!!!!

Mike

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• scottevers7 (12259)
• [2005-08-23 21:10]

Hi Paul,
Great work here. I know had hard this type of shot is. Your knowledge and experience shooting these creatures is amazing. Nice Shot!
Scott

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• thistle (9152)
• [2005-08-24 4:01]

Nice shot Paul!
Maybe it's not perfect (the tandem seems to be not very clear and the POV could've been better), but I know how difficult it is to take such shot, so the two points are well deserved here. This is still much, much ... better than my best photo of d'flies in fligth ;)
I like it very much.
WELL DONE & TFS

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• Comandante (1403)
• [2005-08-24 4:06]

Hello Paul!
Wonderful flying pair.DOF,POV and composition are perfect.Thanks for sharing.

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• sAner (4742)
• [2005-08-24 6:30]

Hi Paul,

Nice shot, though it is not that sharp. Colors are nice and the composition is good. Well done & TFS!

Regards,
Pieter

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• wallhalla15 (13787)
• [2005-08-24 12:49]

Hi Paul, excellent tandem. ;-)
Superb action shot! I like DOF, details and composition very much. TFS.

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• carper (8208)
• [2005-08-24 12:52]

it's nice that you have them on the photo,
technical not easy, well you have them, the pov is not good enough, the dof is nice. When this had been a good one it has been a world shot, good job anyway.
gr. Jaap

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• liquidsunshine (11488)
• [2005-08-24 15:19]

Great shot Paul,
Good detail and great POV. Well composed. Good colours & notes. Well framed.
Hectic week = rushed critique
Well captured, thanks for posting

•      
• phlr (2804)
• [2005-08-24 17:14]

Very good!
Great capture during the flight!
It's very dificult to do!
Great job on this photo!

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• dew77 (13069)
• [2005-08-25 3:02]

Hello Paul!
Perfect capture again.Colors,BG,details,DOF and composition are excellent.TFS...:-)

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• baudinm (56)
• [2005-08-25 4:38]

Hi Paul,
This is a beautiful shot.
The composition is great and I like the reflections in the wings of the dragonflies.
The exposure and sharpness are perfect, which is remarkable since the dragonflies are flying.
Congratulations !
Amicalement,
Michaël

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• CaptiveLight (1131)
• [2005-08-25 5:31]

I have trouble catching one dragon in flight never mind 2!. Good catch, good lighting too.

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• red45 (26865)
• [2005-08-25 8:02]

Very hard to capture. I tried to take same kind of shot but without success. Very well spotted, POV is good, sharpness also. I like sparks on their wings.

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• Luc (14713)
• [2005-08-25 10:27]
• [+]

It is the second post of this sort, Paul. Only Bente has done this before (thank you for the info).
I have observed plenty of ovipositing pairs these days too but no duck hunting them ;-(
A not easy one.

Thank you for sharing...

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• livios (16856)
• [2005-08-25 12:45]

Paul, I can imagine how difficult it was to capture this. Even though, great job.

I think it's one of those photos one has to consider the moment and the difficulty before critiquing. Technically, not your best shot. Despite that, it's a rare and difficult situation to shoot. Considering the pros and cons, I do think it's a great image. And I have the feeling that it's just a matter of time for you to present us with an even greater shot depicting a similar situation.

I enjoyed the workshop too.

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• dsidwell (680)
• [2005-08-27 15:21]

The dragonflies are lovely themselves, but the water beneath them is amazing! Very fun, well composed image, Paul!

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• extramundi (12718)
• [2005-10-31 9:28]

Hi Paul, very nice to meet you again.
I would love to get this one. Veru nice postprocess to get the best of this ones. A pleasure to look at your work again.
Thanks very much my friend.

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• hummingbird24 (64)
• [2005-10-31 12:48]

Since I am catching up...

Congratulations on this fine image, which for the life of me, I will never know how you managed it.

I have tried and tried, and still can't even get one in motion that it looks like a dragonfly.

Superb job Paul! I thank you for sharing it.