I was fortunate when the Black Saddlebags dragonfly (Tramea lacerata) that I was tracking finally landed on Monday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge and I was able to capture this image. Black Saddlebags spend most of their time gliding and circling overhead and it is rare for me to see one perching. This species is one of only a handful of dragonfly species in North America that migrate and this dragonfly may have been merely visiting the refuge on a southward journey.
As I noted in my posting yesterday, I have now switched to my 150-600mm telephoto zoom lens as my walkaround lens and I captured this image with that lens. The lens was fully extended to 600mm for this shot and I was using a monopod for some additional stability. It is a little unusual for me to try to photograph such a small subject with my long lens, but this shot shows that it is possible to get a reasonably sharp image if I pay a lot of attention to my technique.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Beautiful capture, Mike! I have to stabilize my monopod against something. You’re way better than moi! 😀
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I’ve seen long shots with your macro, so close ups with the zoom seem fitting.
You gotta shoot with what you got. Good light and good technique made this shot possible–the Tamron 150-600mm lens is reported to be soft at 600mm, but this is sharp enough for me. The issue with the technique comes with using a monopod–the shot was taken at 1/160 of a second, probably too slow for handholding. 🙂
Impressive small critter shot…with a big lens !!!
Thanks, Ted.
Always good to have a strong zoom lens in your bag 🙂
Thanks. It sure does help, especially when I am photographing small birds.
Very nice work with the (carefully-selected) tools at hand. I’ve dreamed of a lens this long, but it’s a dream of the future.
Thanks, Gary. I have been shooting with the original version of the Tamron 150-600mm and have learned its capabilities and limitations. For example, it requires a lot of light, because it only opens up to f/6.3 at 600mm and can be a little slow in focusing. At times I think about the Canon 600mm f/4.0 lens, but its size and weight and $13,000 price tag make it unlikely I will every get one. I am really a big fan of shooting with what you have and am quite content when I see that my images often compare favorably with those of guys shooting with much more expensive gear.
Size and weight are really prime factors for me too. My first macro lens was a Nikon 105 / 2.8 and I loved it then and love it still, but within a few months I also got an 85 / 3.5. It weighs about a third as much and cost a bit less than half what the larger one did, as I recall, and I use it far more often.
Nice, Mike. A species I’ve not yet seen. I shot a few dragonflies this summer with my Tamron 100-400+2.0 extender and as you’ve shown here long lenses can make good work of small subjects.
Thanks, Steve. I am usually reluctant to shoot dragonflies with my long lens unless the subject is really isolated from the background and I can manually focus, but as we have both demonstrated, it can be done.