Is it just me, or does this image look like it came from a low budget science fiction movie, with a strange-looking alien creature hovering over a Martian landscape?
I was chasing dragonflies again this past weekend, trying to capture images of them in flight, and ended up with this image of a female Common Whitetail dragonfly (Plathemis lydia). It’s pretty tough to try to track these flying insects with a hand-held telephoto zoom lens extended to almost 400mm. My autofocus seemed too slow and I adapted a technique of trying to focus manually, while trying to keep the lens steady. I can’t tell for sure if this image was auto-focused or was manually focused.
Female Common Whitetail dragonflies do not have a white tail and in many ways that makes them a little easier to expose correctly. The wings are blurred, but you can still see the brown markings that identify this as a female, and not an immature male.
Last summer I was content to get a shot of a dragonfly when it was stationary, but this summer I am going to work hard to capture some more images of dragonflies in flight.
Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
Dragonflies are definitely worth serious photographic pursuit, and are one of my favorite subjects. They frequently return to a favorite perch, and if you use a sturdy tripod, turn turn off the autofocus and vibration reduction functions, and focus manually on the perch, you can sometimes catch them quite well in flight as they approach or depart. This one does look rather alien. Are you a Firefly (the TV series) fan?
Thanks for the tips, Gary. I’ll definitely try them out when the dragonfly population increases. It’s still really early in the season and there are so few of them that it’s tough to figure out where they are perching.
Dragonflies are also one of my favorite subjects. They are unimaginably difficult, but oh so amazing. I look forward to your results.
I thought I liked a challenge! I have a hard enough time seeing these guys when they’re sitting still.
I think you’re right. Nice work on the dragonfly inflight – this is becoming an expertise.
Thanks, Lyle. I like to shoot a lot of different subjects, more or less whatever is in season. It means that I am rarely bored and that I don’t have to travel far. I am finding out some tricks and techniques that work for me, but I would hesitate to claim any expertise, particularly when it comes to flying dragonflies (or birds).
LOL! It does look like that 🙂 Great shot, Mike! Last summer I found it very *challenging* to photograph dragonflies (and find them!), even the ones sitting still. I really look forward to try it again this year.