Generally when I spot a Black Saddlebags dragonfly (Tramea lacerata), it is flying. The distinctive dark blotches, which some scientist decided look like saddlebags, are visible even when the dragonfly is in the air. Some dragonflies spend most of their time perching, while others spend most of their time flying—the Black Saddlebags is in the latter category. I was therefore quite excited when I saw this one land in the low vegetation last Thursday at Occoquan Regional Park.
When a subject is this close to the ground, the background is almost inevitably going to be cluttered. In an effort to soften the potential distraction, I opened up the aperture to f/6.3 and tried to shoot almost directly down on the subject. I like the resulting image that has most of the dragonfly in sharp focus and most of the background a bit blurry.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
I love the light on the wings!
Nice detail shot Mike!! Especially the wing detail!
Thanks, Reed. The wings are what make this species so distinctive, so I was really focusing on capturing them well.
Cool photo, Mike!
Blue Rock Horses Frederick County, Virginia bluerockhorses.com
Wow! What an incredible dragonfly and I love the way you’ve caught the light on the wings.
What a neat looking dragonfly!
Great capture!
The whimsical, descriptive names that (sometimes amateur) taxonomists have assigned to various critters are a frequent source of interest, and often levity. Many examples spring to mind!
Indeed, the names often bring a smile to my face, though I must admit I am disappointed when a beautiful species is simply called “common.”
Nice one.
Just did the double-click thing and it is Amaaaazing, Mike! Love the name of this dragonfly, too. Nice one, Mike!
Thanks, Pete. Quite often when I am photographing dragonflies I have to be satisfied with the original viewing angle for shooting. In this case, though, I was able to change my position and get myself into a better viewing angle. Some dragonfly shots might work equally well with a telephoto lens, but ones like this remind me why I like to shoot with a macro lens–it would have been tough to shoot looking almost straight down if I had been using a telephoto lens.
Like you, Mike, I prefer the versatility of a macro lens, so you can change angles better and for better effect. Although sometimes it is hard to get close enough to some dragonflies as they can be quite skittsh, unless you can find them resting.
We have had similar experiences, Pete, and it looks like we use similar techniques when it comes to dragonflies.
Nice! Maybe missed this earlier?