I went to the park to shoot birds, but the pond was empty of birds. So, I wandered around the pond and saw a lot of dragonflies, which aren’t all that interesting photographically I guess. I was going to give up and go back home until I came across a scene of several dragon flies on tall stalks of weeds with the setting sun behind them. So, I figured that I might get something creative out this. I got down low and shot from a distance as I had a long lens on my camera for shooting birds. This let me take the sun out of the shot, but it also let me isolate one dragonfly with the shapes of the other dragonflies blurred in the background.
Not sure this is art, but it was something new. I watch a lot of photographers on YouTube that talk about using a long lens to focus on details when the rest of the scene isn’t cooperating, so maybe this worked out. I think the images convey the mood of a summer evening just before sunset.
I was generally shooting at high ISO as I had a long lens and teleconverter attached, so all the images got denoised in Lightroom. I also warmed them up, boosted the vibrance, and dropped the clarity quite a bit to make them glow a bit.
Just a lazy August afternoon at a city park.
Jason Frels 
I didn’t feel very impressed with the first three shots, which is rare, since I usually like all your photos. But the last photo more than makes up for them. I like it a lot. What a beautiful pic of a dragonfly.
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Yeah, just trying to make something useful out of a trip to the park. This time of year really gets me down photographically.
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Is that because everything is dried up and dying out?
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I don’t feel much like going out when it is hot and the skies are perpetually cloudless. It’s mostly a me problem.
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Oh okay. Well maybe with luck, a hurricane will come your way.
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I agree that the last shot was stunning but I did like the other photos too, especially the 1st one. Gave me a magical feeling with the blur in the background. Fairies may be hiding, you never know.
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Well, when you put it that way, now I’m starting to like those photos.
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😊
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This is one of my favorite dragonflies — the halloween pennant. They got that name partly because of their colors, and partly because they love to perch at the tippy-top of plants, where they look like a pennant blowing in the wind.
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Your last picture is an amazing view of a dragonfly, but I also like the first picture with the dragonflies and the blur in the background. I like the warm, magical feeling it gives.
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[…] https://jasonfrels.com/2025/08/11/dragonflies/ My thanks to Jason, for once more helping my imagination with his inspiring photos. […]
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I love the first photo and would title it Dragon Giraffes
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I love dragon flies. Always have. Very majestic. Actually seen a red one which is odd, at a creek by my house. If you can get close enough, their faces look like little pixies. You should try to get a but closer. 😉
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They fly away if you get too close.
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