Several Common Baskettail dragonflies (Epitheca cynosura) were patrolling over the pond at Jackson Miles Abbott Wetland Refuge last Thursday and I spent a lot of time trying to capture images of one of them as they zoomed by me. I made attempts with both my 180mm macro lens and my 18-400mm zoom lens, sometimes using focusing manually and sometimes using auto focus. Needless to say, there is also a lot of luck involved in getting a somewhat sharp photo of a dragonfly in flight
I spent a lot of time trying to track the dragonflies. They didn’t exactly fly in a pattern, but they seemed to have a territory that they were patrolling, so they came by me at irregular intervals. In the first two shots below, I was able to get a bit of the habitat in the photo, but most of the time I was focusing solely on the dragonfly and there is nothing in the background but the somewhat muddy water of the pond.
I was happy that I was able to get some shots from a number of different angles. In some of the shots, the dragonfly was flying by me, but in other cases I manage to capture images in which the dragonfly was flying towards me or away from me. The angle was often dependent on the speed with which I was able to acquire my target in the viewfinder of my camera and successfully track it as I tried to focus on it—hand-t0-eye coordination is critical.
I used to think that it was impossible to get shots like these. It has gotten a little easier over time as I have gained experience, but it still is pretty hard. No matter how skilled I get, patience and persistence are still the most critical factors in this type of photography.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Really pretty.
Great in flights. Glad to see the 18-400 still in use. If I should get more of my hand motor skills back that will become my standard lens.
Nice flight shots, Mike! Trying to figure out their flying patterns is interesting, some species seem to be totally random I suppose as they are following randomly flying prey.
You are absolutely correct about the flight paths of dragonflies. The ones circling overhead are the hardest to predict, because they are hunting other flying creatures. When they are flying over a body of water it can sometimes be marginally easier to photograph. because they seem to have a more or less defined patrol territory.