Do you like to challenge yourself? I like to try to photograph moving subjects. It is not easy, even when it is a large bird like a Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias), but it is even more difficult when it is a small dragonfly, like this Common Baskettail (Epitheca cynosura) that I photographed last Wednesday at Ococoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge.
The dragonfly was patrolling over a small pond and at certain moments would hover for a split second before continuing. It took quite a few attempts, but eventually I was able to capture this image, which is cropped from a much larger image that came out of my camera.
Different photographers use different techniques to capture shots of flying dragonflies. I personally use my 180mm macro lens and focus manually, because the autofocus on the lens is notoriously slow and has trouble achieving focus with such a small subject. Every year I try this same challenge, often multiple times, so with a little luck and a lot of patience and persistence, I hope to be able to do more postings of dragonflies in flight in the upcoming months.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Excellent sharp result Mike. Like you I manually focus but will use various lenses then hit it with a burst shot and hope for the best! Some species give us a chance with a quick hover others are nigh on impossible but sometimes follow a sort of set flight path.
You have described well my process. The Common Baskettail was in fact following a kind of path in a fairly restricted area and I was able to visually track it as it was doing so. That made it a little easier to get a shot, though most of my images were out of focus. After a certain amount of time, the dragonfly flew away and did not return to that spot. My window of opportunity had closed without me knowing it.
It really is a challenge, and one that intrigues me whenever I chance to be where they’re hunting and hovering. The double-click on this one pays tribute to your legendary p&p, which has paid off for you yet again!
Thanks, Gary. One of my most memorable in-flight dragonfly shots was done with my Canon SX-50 super zoom point and shoot during an overseas trip for work to Brussels. Normally this camera does not work well for capturing motion, but in this case it worked incredibly well. Check it out to see a shot of a Migrant Hawker, a European dragonfly species, https://michaelqpowell.com/2018/09/07/migrant-hawker-in-flight/ and see for yourself. 🙂
Wow, that migrant hawker is really a winged jewel, and they surprise me again and again how well they can adapt to a broken wing (like that one’s), and even a crumpled eye, which I’ve seen at the lake. They take it all in stride and fly on, maintaining (apparently) full grace and agility. Amazing.
Whew! What a shot!!
It’s always fun to try shots like this, Molly, though the chances of success are not really high. A lot of folks won’t even try, thinking it is impossible to get a shot like this. It is not impossible, just a little hard to do.
Nice Dragonfly flight shot Mike!
Thanks, Reed. I hope to do better as we move more deeply into dragonfly season and hopefully I will have some additional opportunities.