Masochism..... Dragonflies in Flight

[conkerwood]

In early summer my local botanic garden swarms with dragonflies all focussing on one thing..... and it isn't eating. It is easy enough to get a close up of a posing dragonfly, just move slowly and don't let your shadow go across them, but in my most masochistic moments I enjoy the challenge of trying to capture them in flight. There is almost no hope of freezing the wings and that's fine, a little bit of blur gives that sense of movement but I want the head/eye in focus and as much of the body as possible. Depending on the light that usually ends up with an f stop around 5.6/6.3 and a speed of somewhere between 1/1000 and 1/1600. And then I stand there for an hour or so hoping to catch one of the little monsters pausing for a fraction of a second in one place. Usually, of course, the autofocus grabs the background or by the time I have the camera pointing at the right spot the dragonfly is long gone, but every now and then I get one. But to be honest, more often than not I get nothing. So my question is are there any other masochists out there who try to take these sorts of shots and if you are successful, any technique tips would be most gratefully accepted. I have included 4 pics of the little critters in flight and a couple at rest, just because I love their details. All thoughts and comments welcome.

Conkerwood

[ccphoto]

The key to getting these little buggers in flight is to watch their pattern of flight.. Many species around here fly a figure eight pattern so I find a spot in the arc of one segment, pre-focus and let them fly into my zone of focus. It still takes a lot of skill and a whole lot of luck to really nail one, but using this method cuts the throw away percentage from 99% to about 75%. Hey, it's something!

[Wavelength]

That's clever! really well done!!!

[Artshot]

I have to admit that last summer was made much shorter because of the same need to photograph these flying dragons.
Macro shots of nymphs morphing into adults are quite scary. Flying shots require patience and luck. My best shot was with a 300mm manual focus, just to prove the luck theory.

Your photos are much nicer, so keep it up and share the secrets.

[MillennialDusk]

Usually, of course, the autofocus grabs the background or by the time I have the camera pointing at the right spot the dragonfly is long gone, but every now and then I get one. But to be honest, more often than not I get nothing. So my question is are there any other masochists out there who try to take these sorts of shots and if you are successful, any technique tips would be most gratefully accepted. I have included 4 pics of the little critters in flight and a couple at rest, just because I love their details. All thoughts and comments welcome.

Conkerwood

I tried this particular form of masochism once, and very quickly found that I am not a masochist at all. #3 is by far my favorite; I like the way that focus on the middle part of the wings is sharp, but the wingtips still have a bit of blur on them.

Am I seeing correctly that you were able to use a flash on #5 (and 4 as well, maybe)? #5 is a close 2nd to #3 of the set, falling only because of the increased complexity of catching the little bugger in flight.

[NorthernFocus]

I thought I was sick but now see that I am not yet truly sick The closest I've come to this is shooting swallows. I think Chris is on to it. Set the camera down for a while and watch for patterns. If you sort that out the odds will go up.

[Shadowman]

Nice stuff.

[rpcrowe]

Great captures...

[conkerwood]

ccphoto. I often use the prefocus and wait trick when taking pics of birds in my garden because they have very definite flight paths but I have never tried it with dragons, I will give it a go.

MillennielDusk. Thanks for your response. No I didn't use flash on any of the shots in fact I avoid flash at all times unless I am forced into it. Whenever I take a still shot I always take a bracket of 3 exposures, -2, 0, +2 and then blend.