What is the best way to photograph a dragonfly that perches low to the ground? How can you create an image in which the dragonfly is not lost amidst the clutter of the vegetation? That was the challenge that fellow dragonfly enthusiast Walter Sanford and I faced last Monday when we journeyed to Riverbend Park in Great Falls, Virginia in search of Eastern Ringtail dragonflies (Erpetogomphus designatus).
Walter has a lot of experience with dragonflies and knew where to find Eastern Ringtails in the park. He knew, for example, that they like to perch on a section of concrete aggregate and indeed we spotted one not long after we arrived. Walter likes to maximize the chance of getting the entire dragonfly in focus by shooting downwards, ideally from as close to overhead as possible. For him, the concrete background is uncluttered and allows him to capture all of details of the dragonfly.
Although I prefer to photograph dragonflies on natural vice manmade surfaces, I took some photos, including the third one below, while the dragonfly was on the concrete—you have to shoot when the opportunity arises and I was not confident that I could wait for the dragonfly to choose a better perch. Rather than shooting from above when the dragonfly is on the ground, I usually choose to get down with the dragonfly.
Eventually I was able to get some shots of Eastern Ringtails perched in the grass. The middle image shows the dragonfly tilting its head to look towards me as I photographed it. I like the pose, but I was not fully satisfied. Those of you who have followed my blog for a while know that I like to get as close to a dragonfly as it will let me. The initial photo of this posting was one of my final shots of my session with the Eastern Ringtails and it is probably my favorite.
I began this post with a question and feel like I owe you a response. In reality, there is no “best” way to photograph a dragonfly on the ground, but my preferred option is to get low to the ground and close to the subject so that I am able to focus on part of the dragonfly, hopefully the eyes, and blur out the background because of the shallow depth of field when shooting that close. If you would like to see Walter’s wonderful photos of Eastern Ringtails from the same trip, I encourage you to check out his blog postings Eastern Ringtail reunion, continued and Reconnecting with Eastern Ringtail. Those postings provide his visual response to the question that I posed.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Benjamin listened to a very edited version of the post, then he carefully examined each enlarged photo. He mentioned the aspects of each photo that he found most interesting. Then we went to “Mr. Walter’s” posts to compare his photos with yours. After returning to yours, he had me enlarge each photo again. At the conclusion of this second examination he was ready to comment : “I don’t want Mr. Walter to feel bad but I like Mr. Mike’s the bestest, ‘specially the last one.” His reason for choosing the last photo : “I love to see the whole dragonfly from the side without the other stuff all around! Look at the end of his abdomen, it’s like a little claw.” Thank-you, Mr. Mike!!
Thanks so much, Ellen, for sharing Benjamin’s reaction and comments. I am actually not surprised that he likes the final photo, because it truly isolates the subject and shows the greatest amount of details (and I know that Benjamin loves details).
Three excellent shots Mike, I particularly like the third one.
Such strange animals! All that green and brown and those huge blue eyes.
Stunning detail, Mike.
I can relate to your comment about shooting when you can to capture ‘something’, then refining the angle, the composition in later shots if you have the opportunity. It’s pretty much what I need to do with underwater shots in particular, when the ideal view might be elusive.
Thanks, Chris. I can only imagine how complicated it is to compose and shoot photos underwater. I think that I would be focused too much on breathing to be able to think creatively. I think that most of us try to follow a two step process–take a shot at the first opportunity and then try to improve on the first shot if we can by changing the angle or moving closer.
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