This Gray Petaltail dragonfly (Tachopteryx thoreyi) was quite cooperative and let me take a close-up portrait last week as I was exploring a small pond in Fairfax County, Virginia. Gray Petaltails are known to be quite friendly and inquisitive and I have had one perch on me on multiple occasions. During one such encounter in 2019, fellow dragonfly enthusiast Walter Sanford snapped a couple of photos of one perched on me when I was wearing a gray sweatshirt that must have made me look like a tree to the dragonfly. If you want to see the photos, check out Walter’s blog post entitled “You look like a tree to me.”
Most of the time I am not able to approach a dragonfly from this angle to get a close-up shot. Dragonflies have incredible vision and I am certain that this one could see me coming. However, he apparently did not see me as a threat and stayed in place while I took several shots. As you can see, the depth of field was incredibly shallow for this shot—only a small portion of the dragonfly’s body was in focus—but I was able to keep the striking gray eyes in focus and capture a lot of details that highlight their beauty.
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Mike Powell 