photoartflightGreat Blue Skimmer Dragonfly Detail Shots
One of my favorite subjects are Dragonflies & Damselflies. The trouble is l have a wide variety of favorite subjects! This series was shot a few years ago at a somewhat local tree covered stream in Mahwah NJ. I could not get real close because of the stream they were over so I used a Canon 400mm DO lens with extension tubes. This enabled me to get somewhat frame filling images with a very smooth background. With the extension tubes I lost quite a bit of light so I used a Canon flash for filling in the shadows somewhat. Also because of the extension tubes, I had a limited depth of field that gave me extremely soft smooth backgrounds.
The Featured image was shot at f/8, 1/200th second @ ISO 1250, 2 images for a focus stack to get detail in the left wing, with an exposure compensation of -1.33 because of the fill flash. This also made the background a little darker
Image taken @ 1/60 th sec., f/11, -0.67 Exp. Compensation, ISO 1250
Image taken @ 1/125 th sec., f/8, -1.33 Exp. Compensation, ISO 1250
photoartflight 
Such dazzling eyes! Great shots, Reed, the details are wonderful.
Thanks Eliza! They are fun & challenging to photograph! So I am Always trying different ways to get the most detail with smoother backgrounds.