Amazing dragonfly eyes

August 25, 2018 by Mike Powell

Dragonflies have amazing compound eyes that wrap around their heads. With up to 30,000 facets (ommatidia, to be technical), dragonflies have incredible vision and can even see colors beyond human visual capabilities, like UV light. For an easy to read discussion about dragonfly eyes, i.e. not overly scientific, check out this posting by “grrl Scientist” that was posted on scienceblogs.com.

I captured this close-up image of a Great Blue Skimmer dragonfly (Libellula vibrans) yesterday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. At least once a season, I manage to get a shot like this when a cooperative dragonfly lets me get close. I captured the image below with my trusty Tamron 180mm macro lens on my Canon 50D DSLR. This lens, which has a longer focal length than most macro lenses, gives me some stand-off distance so I can get a macro shot like this without actually being on top of the subject. The only downside to the lens is that it has no built-in image stabilization, so I have to pay extra attention to remaining steady when shooting with it—I generally use a monopod to help reduce camera shake and I think it helped for this image.

The image is framed just as I saw it in my viewfinder. Most of the time I end up cropping my images as part of my normal post-processing, but in this case it looked pretty good without any cropping whatsoever.

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Macro Photography, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife | Tagged Canon 50D, compound eyes, Great Blue Skimmer, Great Blue Skimmer dragonfly, Libellula vibrans, Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge, ommatidia, Tamron 180mm, Woodbridge VA | 14 Comments

14 Responses

on August 25, 2018 at 7:43 am | Reply Dan Antion

You certainly got the title right, Mike. Those are amazing.
on August 25, 2018 at 8:14 am | Reply Ellen Jennings

Very nice capture, Mike!
on August 25, 2018 at 8:36 am | Reply Ellen

When I read the title to this post, I thought…this is for Benjamin. The photo is amazing indeed, enlarged it is phenomenal! As you know, with Benjamin it is all about the details. He will love this photo! Thank-you, Mr. Mike!!
- on August 25, 2018 at 9:01 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  A shot like this reminds me of why I love to shoot with my macro lens, which lets me capture details I would never see otherwise.
on August 25, 2018 at 12:14 pm | Reply Suzy Shipman

Gorgeous!
on August 25, 2018 at 12:52 pm | Reply Laura (PA Pict)

Wow! Those eyes are spectacular.
on August 25, 2018 at 4:15 pm | Reply Reed Andariese

Nice image Mike! Their eyes are amazing!
- on August 26, 2018 at 6:13 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Reed.
on August 25, 2018 at 5:12 pm | Reply New Hampshire Garden Solutions

Excellent!
on August 26, 2018 at 4:18 am | Reply blhphotoblog

Great capture!
- on August 26, 2018 at 6:14 am | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks. I love my macro lens!
on August 27, 2018 at 10:37 am | Reply Ellen

Benjamin says : “Whoa, these eyes are awesome!” He kept repeating “wow” as I read the condensed post to him and when I finished he said : “Dragonflies are amazing and bestest!” Thank-you, Mr. Mike!!
- on August 27, 2018 at 5:15 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  I definitely think the eyes are worth several rounds of “Wow.” Thanks for sharing his reaction, and I hope that you liked those eyes too.
on August 30, 2018 at 1:26 pm | Reply Robert Kirkendall

Cool! Those eyes look like blue tinted aviator sunglasses.