Continuing my quixotic quest to photograph dragonflies in flight, I went boldly out into the wild, armed with my trusty 100mm macro lens, and managed to capture this cool image of a dragonfly as it hovered over the water.
In previous attempts, I used longer telephoto zoom lenses, which increased the number of potential subjects but gave only mixed results. Using a shorter, fixed focal-length lens, I had to change my strategy a little and try to get closer to the subject.
I noticed this dragonfly hovering about the water to the side of the boardwalk on which I was walking. I crept as close as I could and tried to shoot as close to straight down as I could (the boardwalk was at least a foot (30 cm) above the level of the water and it looked like the dragonfly was hovering almost level with the boards of the boardwalk). I was really sensitive to my shadow, because I have learned that nothing scares away an insect faster than casting a shadow on it.
I used autofocus and was a little surprised to see that my dragonfly is in pretty clear focus, although the shutter speed was not fast enough to stop the action of the wings. I shot this handheld and really tried to pay attention to my technique, because my macro lens does not have any built-in image stabilization. As I thought about it afterwards, I realized that the auto focusing on the macro lens (using what Canon calls an ultrasonic motor) is much faster and better than the focusing on my Canon 55-250 or my Sigma 135-400mm zoom lens.
I have been having some difficulties identifying this dragonfly. The coloration of the tail looks a little like a female Blue Dasher, but the beautiful blue eyes do not seem right for the female. The tip of the tail should be a help, but I can’t seem to find one that matches it.
Although I can’t identify the dragonfly, it’s my best shot to date of a dragonfly in flight and I’m pretty content with it today, though my quixotic quest is likely to continue this weekend.
Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
It’s a great shot-almost as if you were riding on the back of another dragonfly while taking it.
Thanks. I like the thought of being able to ride on the back of a dragonfly.
Great shot Mike 😀
Just a great shot. The wing action is not bad either.
Thanks, Victor. You are someone who pays a lot of attention to technique, as reflected in your blog postings. Some of those postings have prompted me to pay more attention when going for shots like this (and it’s one of the reasons why I tried to write down what I was thinking and doing as I was shooting).
Thanks for compliment!
I think the motion blur of the wings actually adds to the effect. I like to use manual focus for my portrait shots – especially with shallow depth of field, when I want my camera to focus on the eyes and not the forehead, but for quick moving birds or bugs I have been using autofocus more.
(also for quick moving toddlers)
Very good one! I always like the challenge of photographing these guys.
Wow- This is **great**! Beautiful dragonfly.
You are really mastering dragonfly photography!
Super! This one isn’t in my dragonfly book either. Its abdomen looks like a female, and the body looks like a skimmer. I see a faint hint of black in the wings next to the thorax, which might make it a female widow skimmer, but they don’t have blue eyes. I’m stumped.
Thanks for checking, Sue. Based on your clues, I did some more searching and wonder if this might be a juvenile male Great Blue Skimmer. This photo (http://www.pbase.com/rcm1840/image/28720593) looks a lot like “my” dragonfly.
Excellent shot.
Thanks. A lot of luck sure helped!