Prince Baskettails in flight

July 21, 2022 by Mike Powell

It is a fun challenge to try to photograph dragonflies in flight—I will usually try to meet this challenge at least a few times each dragonfly season. It requires a lot of patience and persistence, as you can probably imagine, and results are certainly not guaranteed.

I captured these shots of Prince Baskettail dragonflies (Epitheca cynosura) as they was flew more or less toward me on Tuesday at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge. Normally I use manual focus for these kinds of shots when I am shooting with my Tamron 180mm macro lens because it is really slow in acquiring focus.

For these shots, though, I used my Tamron 18-400mm lens and the longer reach let me acquire and track my subjects when they were farther away. Amazingly I was able to use auto focus. The first two shots were taken with the zoom lens fully extended to 400mm and the lens was at 265mm for the final photo.

None of these photos will win any prizes, but they are kind of fun. As one of my friends commented in Facebook, the view is “kind of like being a tail gunner in a B17 over France during WWII.” More importantly for me, though, these shots provide an indication that I am not giving up too many capabilities if I choose to walk around with this lens alone. It will never fully replace my macro lens or my longer telephoto zoom lens, but the Tamron 18-400mm lens is continuing to impress me with its versatility.

Posted in Dragonflies, dragonfly, Insects, Nature, Photography, Summer, wildlife | Tagged Canon 7D, Epitheca cynosura, Fort Belvoir VA, Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge, Prince Baskettail, Prince Baskettail dragonfly, Tamron 18-400mm | 19 Comments

19 Responses

on July 21, 2022 at 7:28 am | Reply K.L. Hale

How beautiful to see the flight. I understand the comment on FB!
- on July 21, 2022 at 8:43 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks. I personally think back to Snoopy and the Red Baron. 🙂
on July 21, 2022 at 7:54 am | Reply Ann

Oh my goodness! Looks like a dive bomber……….great shots!
- on July 21, 2022 at 7:57 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks. It makes me think of Snoopy and the Red Baron.
on July 21, 2022 at 8:10 am | Reply Birder's Journey

Remarkable, Mike, that you were able to capture dragonflies in flight at all! I enjoyed your friends FB comment😉
- on July 21, 2022 at 7:59 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks. It is a challenge in hand to eye coordination to photograph flying dragonflies, but it can be done with sufficient patience and persistence.
on July 21, 2022 at 9:19 am | Reply Reed Andariese

Very nice Mike! Fun to see them in flight!
- on July 21, 2022 at 7:57 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Reed. It’s cool to be able to get shots like this. The real challenge is to be able to track and photograph them when they get closer–I still have not done that yet with this lens. 🙂
on July 21, 2022 at 9:29 am | Reply Louella Lester

Wow!
- on July 21, 2022 at 7:56 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Louella.
on July 21, 2022 at 10:50 am | Reply Ted Jennings - TPJ Photography

I’m impressed 👍👍. I never get those shots, and you pushed them with the Tamron too ! Great work.
- on July 21, 2022 at 7:55 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Ted. I am hoping I can even improve a bit as I get used to the lens. 🙂
on July 21, 2022 at 11:45 am | Reply Steve Gingold

I cannot hold a lens steady and even with IS/VR there’s not a chance so I am impressed with these, Mike. Nice work.
- on July 21, 2022 at 7:55 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  Thanks, Steve. You have to be a little crazy to even attempt shots like this, but it is my kind of fun challenge. 🙂
on July 22, 2022 at 4:39 pm | Reply Ellen Jennings

Fun captures, Mike, so interesting to see their action frozen–as if we might figure out how they fly!
- on July 22, 2022 at 8:56 pm | Reply Mike Powell
  
  I have seen some cool videos about how dragonflies fly. With muscles attached to each wing, they can operate each one independently. Sometimes the rear wings are in synch with the front ones and sometimes they are deliberately out of synch, depending on the type of flight. Additionally they can hover and glide and I believe they can even fly in reverse. Wow!
  - on July 23, 2022 at 9:02 pm Ellen Jennings
    
    I need to look for those videos.
    And all that managed with that teeny brain! Wow, indeed!!
  - on July 23, 2022 at 11:24 pm Mike Powell
    
    Here’s one of the videos that I remember watching. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxrLYv0QXa4
  - on July 25, 2022 at 6:47 pm Ellen Jennings
    
    Wow, that slo-mo video was just incredible–thanks for sharing.