It’s tough enough to try to photograph any dragonfly in flight, but this past weekend I chased after some of the smallest ones, the Eastern Amberwing dragonflies (Perithemis tenera).
According to Bugguide, these dragonflies are typically 21-24mm in length, which is less than one inch. There were lots of Eastern Amberwings buzzing around the edges of a small pond at one of the local gardens that I like to visit. They were within range of the 100mm macro lens that I was using, but focusing was my big problem. Even though they tended to hover a bit, it was tough to get them in focus when focusing manually and impossible to do so with auto-focus.
The amber wings of this dragonfly are distinctive and I was happy to get some images that showcase the wings. The shots are not quite as sharp as they might have been if I had captured the dragonflies perched, but they seemed to be in constant motion and never posed for me. Focusing manually is still an adventure for me when the subject is moving, but it is a fun challenge.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved
Mike Powell 
Amazing that you caught them at all! Well done!
Thanks. I’m sure the hunt will continue. It looked a little strange as I leaned precariously over the water. A spectator finally had the courage to ask me what in the world I was doing (from a distance it was not obvious that I was trying to photograph dragonflies).
I just went through the same thing with a cabbage white butterfly. I got one okay shot, but it was hard to get and isn’t as perfect as I’d like. These shots are amazing.
Thanks. Perfection is mostly out of reach when it comes to getting shots of insects that may move and the closer you get to them, the harder it gets, unfortunately.
Very impressive — I’ve tried to capture dragonflies in flight, and have no idea how to set up for the shot. Focusing is a big problem. Congrats on your success.
Thanks, Sue. For me, the key is to try to shoot them when they are hovering. Focusing manually seems to be the only way to get a shot, but my success rate is not very high. trying to get a decent angle is something I like to try to get, but that’s not always possible. For the Amberwing shots, I was shooting almost straight down.
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