Damselfly After The Rain

I went out early after it rained during the night to see what I could find. I was looking for raindrops or maybe damselflies in the grasses with water drops. I found quite a few interesting subjects to photograph. I used a Sigma 150mm Macro with a Canon Series II 1.4X teleconverter so I did not have to get right on top of my subjects. I tried different f/stops to get a variety of backgrounds, more blurry wider open or a little more distracting when stopped down more. Wider open did not give me enough depth of field to get the whole damselfly, Stopped down gave me more depth of field on the damselfly and raindrops, but gave me a busier background. I also shot many series at a wider open f/stop with a series of focus points to combine in an image stack which will give me more depth of field with a nice smooth background. I will post those later.

The featured opening photo was shot at f/5.6 for a smooth non-distracting background, but not as much detail on the damsel, but you get the face and some water drops. You see the expression on the face stands out and a water drop.

Damselfly @ f/16 – more depth of field but background gets more distracting.

Damselfly at f/22. More depth of field, background more distracting.

Damselfly @ f/13. Inbetween the first 2.

Damselfly @ f/32. More depth of field, more detail in damselfly, more raindrops in focus, but background gets more distracting.

Damselfly @ f/13. Enough depth of field for interest. Enough detail in the Damsefly and raindrops with a not overly distracting background.

Damselfly @ f/13. Again, enough depth of field for interest. Enough detail in the Damsefly and raindrops with a not overly distracting background.

Damselfly @ f/22.

Damselfly @ f/4. Very selective focus. Keeps your eye on the face and the expression on the face. Gives a “Dreamy” soft look.