Dragonfly: A Lesson in Aperture

I was taking pictures of a golf course from the sand dunes when a dragonfly caught my eye. I quickly turned to get his picture when he landed and I got this:

I was horrified! My aperture was set to 13 and the angle of my shot made him blend right into the background. As luck would have it, the dragonfly decided to stay on that stick just a bit longer so I was able to adjust my aperture to 6.3 and try again. I changed my angle a bit to get more of a profile and I got this:

I didn't have my macro lens on my camera so I could only get so close. But that dragonfly stuck around for a couple minutes and I was able to get about 10 shots before he flew off. I'm surprised that I reacted so quickly and was able to change all my settings to get a decent picture. I'm not a nature photographer at all, so I feel quite lucky.

I like the shot in black and white because he stands out more from the background, like this:

It reminds me of something I read a long time ago that has stuck with me which was that in order to get the picture you have to be there. Which to me has translated as get off your butt and get out there with your camera! That's exactly what I did that morning. When I looked out from our front porch and saw the beautiful clouds over the golf course, I quickly got dressed and ran out with my camera. I got more than I imagined that morning.

Behind the Scenes Video Shoot

I did a little behind the scenes shooting at a video filming. I'm not sure I'm any good at it. It was all outside at night. I had to crank my ISO up to 6400 just to get anything. And many of the shots are blurry! Thank heavens that I did this for trade, because I would have to return any money I took for this.

I managed to get this shot out of it, which I love.

It has a unsettling feeling to it. I feel angst looking at this shot. I think it's partly due to the fact that the eye wants to rest on the blank wall, but there's nothing there and you have to go looking for the subject of the image. And what is the subject, the disappearing lady or the blow up doll? This image just asks more questions then it answers. I like that.

While I'm a self-proclaimed prop master, I never would have thrown all those props together! So I'm glad I did this shoot. It challenged me.