Every year I challenge myself by attempting to capture images of dragonflies in flight. Some dragonfly species help out by flying in somewhat predictable patterns or by hovering a bit, but it is still pretty tough to capture a tiny moving subject like a dragonfly.
This week I managed to photograph Common Baskettail dragonflies (Epitheca cynosura) in flight on two consecutive days at different locations using different lenses and techniques. Male Common Baskettails often patrol around the edges of small ponds in fairly limited areas. If you observe them long enough, you can get a general sense of the track that they are following.
For the first photo, I extended my Tamron 150-600mm lens to its maximum length and pre-focused on an open area that appeared to be part of the patrol route at a small pond at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. My camera was on a monopod and when the dragonfly entered the target area, I would attempt to track it and focus the lens manually. It sounds pretty straightforward, but the hand-to-eye coordination required makes this approach quite daunting. However, as you can see in the first photo, it is possible to get a decent shot. If you click on the image, you can see lots of cool details, including the way that the dragonfly has folded up its legs under its thorax.
The next day I was exploring a small pond in Prince William County when I spotted a patrolling dragonfly—it was another male Common Baskettail. I had my Tamron 180mm macro lens on my camera and was not using a monopod. I was able to track the dragonfly a bit more freely with this lighter lens, which proved to be beneficial when the dragonfly deviated from its flight path. Once again I focused manually and was thrilled with the results I got in the second and third images below. I particularly like the way that I was able to capture some of the pond environment in the second shot, while managing to get the dragonfly in sharp focus.
Why do I use manual focus? My Canon 50D is a long in the tooth and has a relatively primitive focusing system with only nine focus points, which means that my camera can’t focus fast enough or accurately enough to shoot a dragonfly in mid-air. More modern camera have much faster and more sophisticated focusing systems and theoretically can produce better results. I saw a video recently, for example, in which a photographer was able to use animal eye focus on a moving dragonfly. Yikes! You pay a real premium, though, for that advanced technology, with camera bodies costing up to $5,000 and lenses up to $12,000.
I am not all that impressed by fancy camera gear and would rather focus on mastering the more modest gear that I have and spending as much time as I can out in the wild. In my mind, that recipe sets me up best to take advantage of the opportunities that arise as I wander about in nature.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
That second shot is incredible !!! Great work.
Thanks, Ted. That is actually my favorite shot of the three. I always have to fight against a tendency to zoom in close or crop in close and in this case I was really happy to have the subject take up on a relatively small portion of the frame.
Ah the joys of capturing dragonflies in flight. Excellent efforts Mike!
Thanks. As you know well, there is a huge amount of luck involved in getting shots of dragonflies in flight. 🙂
Thanks for describing how you got both shots. Though my main focus is birds, I do try to capture shots of dragonflies and damselflies here in Costa Rica with various results and lack-of! 🙂 I too avoid the expensive equipment using a Canon Rebel and the Tamron 150-600 lens which was my best investment! There is no limit to the joys of nature photography! I enjoy your blog!
Thanks, Charlie. You and I have the same long lens, I think, and seem to photograph similar subjects. I switch to photographing birds in the colder months, when it is to cold for the kinds of insects that I love to photograph in the summer. It is fun to experiment with different techniques, but, as you know well, nothing is guaranteed when photographing wildlife–there are too many variables that cannot be controlled.
And oh yes, though nothing like your collection, here’s my gallery of dragon & damselflies:
Thanks for sharing your link, Charlie. You have some colorful species there in Costa Rica that I have never seen before. Wow!
My compliments for these manual focused results Mike ! I have the same problem with to slow focussing so you need a good part of luck too… I experienced in often when I tried to make pictures of birds in full flight.
Thanks, Rudi. I definitely agree that luck is required to get in-flight shots of birds and dragonflies. As you know well, it takes a lot of patience and persistence and a lot of missed shots to get a single good one.
Very nice Mike! Always a challenge to photograph them in flight!
[…] Occasionally I will try to capture an image of a Common Baskettail while it is flying, but that works better when the dragonfly is flying above a pond than when it is flying with a background of vegetation. If you are interested in seeing some shots of Common Baskettails in flight, check out my blog posting from May 2022 entitled “Flying Common Baskettail dragonflies.” […]