The number of dragonflies of certain species seems to be dropping as we approach autumn, but there seem to be plenty of Big Bluet damselflies (Enallagma durum) still around at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Their bright blue coloration and relatively large size—about 1.3 – 1.7 inches (34 to 44 mm) in length—makes the Big Bluets easy to spot in the vegetation along a trail that runs parallel to the waters of the bay.
One of the big challenges when photographing dragonflies and damselflies is getting the entire subject in focus—their bodies are long and narrow and are often pointing in a direction that makes it impossible to get sufficient depth of field. This male Big Bluet cooperated by perching in a way that allowed me to photograph him from the side. The damselfly is nicely in focus, while the leafy background is mostly out of focus and does not distract the viewer’s eyes from the primary subject.
Yes, the dragonflies and damselflies are still hanging on in my area. I think I will continue to see and photograph them for at least another month or two before I gradually begin to shift my focus towards birds, which will again become my main focus during the colder months of the year.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
He’s a beauty.
Very nice Mike! In our area the damsels & dragons are getting scarce already.
Lovely capture of this beauty, Mike, and very nice job getting him in focus. The blue on these Bluets strikes me as a perfect color.
I love that shade of blue also, Ellen. I can’t remember if I used manual focusing for this image, but often end up using it for damselflies, whose tiny bodies are so skinny that autofocus has trouble locking on them.
I tried a few damselflies yesterday with my 100-400mm lens using autofocus, and although I haven’t looked closely yet, I don’t think I got anything worth keeping.
In my experience, Ellen, dragonflies are a whole lot easier for autofocus because they had a lot more body mass than damselflies. I used to be reluctant to use manual focusing with my DSLR, but have gotten used to using it, sometimes even with my 150-600mm zoom lens.
Such sharp focus! I can’t get over how beautiful and clear your images of dragonflies and other insects are. We had an exchange about skills before Mike. Your ability to focus on something so small and fleeting is outstanding. It is always a treat to zoom in on your images and study the details.
Thanks, Chris. I tend to use my Tamron 180mm macro lens most of the time during the summer when I am photographing insects. The lens is noisy and a bit slow to focus, which would be a problem if I was shooting moving subjects like birds in flight. I do a fair amount of manual focusing, which is really smooth on this lens, which is good because it has no built-in image stabilization, so I have to pay a lot of attention to holding it steady. When it comes to finalizing the photos, I like to use Topaz DeNoise AI, a software that helps me to clean up the noise a bit and make the images appear slightly sharper. More that anything, though, I think that many of my images are successful because I know what kind of images I like and how to move quickly to create those images–the result of familiarity with both my camera gear and my subjects.
Interesting. As you say knowing your gear and the behaviour of your subject is key.
Ready for the birds!