This month’s image is taken by Sharon Belben, who captured a dragonfly while on holiday

This was taken in North Devon while on holiday in September. It was shot on my Nikon D5100 in Shutter Priority mode at 1/1,000sec. I used my 70-300mm zoom lens set to 300mm. My technique was to just wait for the dragonfly to come into shot. I love the photo because it took ages to get a dragonfly in flight and in focus. I do not use Photoshop; the image is straight from the camera.

Wildlife photography is one of the most challenging areas of photography to work in, especially when shooting fast-moving, small flying insects such as this dragonfly.

You played the waiting game and your patience has paid off. Most wildlife photographers use the same technique. They also study the behaviour and habits of their subject, which increases their chances and ensures that they’re more likely to be in the right place at the right time.

The blurred background works well at isolating the subject and it’s nice and clean, however, it’s also a little bland. It would have been nice if it suggested a hint of the environment through colour and shape. Even if it’s out of focus, this can really help set the scene.

I love the hint of movement on the wing: this helps bring the shot to life.

Capturing the dragonfly side-on has helped you capture pin-sharp focus across the whole body, something that would have been more tricky if it was at an angle.

It’s great that the image is more or less as it came out of the camera. This is a good skill to master: Photoshop should only ever be used to as a tool to make a good shot better, and never to salvage a duff one. Well done: this is a great start.

TECHNIQUE Digital Camera December 2014 Below Natural framing is about using the secondary features in the scene to lead the viewer’s eye toward the main subject of the image. Above Planning and patience paid off handsomely for Sharon Belben, who used...