[BorderBirder]

Weather allowed the dragonfly outing! Much patience required and I'd be fascinated in what techniques people have used to get shots of these erratically
moving diaphonous creatures.

Love to hear of your experiences...

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[jeffnles1]

great job on that. They are difficult to capture in flight.

How I've been able to get them is to set up within range of whatever stick or perch they are using as their main resting spot and capture them approaching or leaving. Many of the dragonfly species tend to use the same perch and return after chasing other dragonflies away. Sometimes we can get images of the "fight" if it happens close enough to the perch. Other dragonflies like the Darners seem to rarely land and are always in motion (at least during daylight hours).

In late summer my wife and I have managed to get some interesting shots of them covered in dew in early morning before the day warms up enough for them to take flight. Sleeping Dragons

 

[BorderBirder]

I like the sleeping dragons notion, Jeff! Thanks
The ones above were in constant motion and yet they tended to have something of a circuit and might pause in hover.
I found manual focus best, but wondered if anyone had success with other Z8/9 options?

 

[Woody Meristem]

With my Olympus cameras I've used procapture to photograph them as they take off from a perch and use as high a shutter speed as light will allow.

 

[BorderBirder]

With my Olympus cameras I've used procapture to photograph them as they take off from a perch and use as high a shutter speed as light will allow.

That sounds a good move when they oblige, Woody. How do you find the Oly autofocus options manage with them, in flight. My friend has Canon and Olympus and wondered if the Oly would have fared better AF wise with these tricky creatures. He took his R7 for the above outing.

 

[Woody Meristem]

That sounds a good move when they oblige, Woody. How do you find the Oly autofocus options manage with them, in flight. My friend has Canon and Olympus and wondered if the Oly would have fared better AF wise with these tricky creatures. He took his R7 for the above outing.

I've used both continuous autofocus and single autofocus with a 9x9 grid. My reaction time is terrible (as befits someone who's 83) so I have real trouble panning with them. Getting them in flight is always hit or miss, if 5-10% wind up as usable photos I figure I've done pretty well/

 

[BorderBirder]

I've used both continuous autofocus and single autofocus with a 9x9 grid. My reaction time is terrible (as befits someone who's 83) so I have real trouble panning with them. Getting them in flight is always hit or miss, if 5-10% wind up as usable photos I figure I've done pretty well/

That sounds like a good hit rate Woody! I tried wide area large but ended up using manual focus. They are such active fliers and didn’t land on anything all morning! I may return there early but weather here v rainy now

 

[PhotoLover]

I've only been able to get them in flight when they hover, or when they have a loop they follow. In the latter situation, I pre-focus at about the point in the loop I hope to catch them, and than try and lock on when they come around again. Much better luck with larger dragonflies. This using D500, 500 pf and group AF.

 

[Woody Meristem]

They are such active fliers and didn’t land on anything all morning! I may return there early but weather here v rainy now

Some species are "fliers" and seldom land when the weather's warm, other species are called "perchers" and tend to perch on a twig or piece of vegetation making occasional flights and then returning to a favorite perch. For the perchers I use procapture, for the fliers it mostly trying to find them perched and using procapture, if they're actively flying I try to pan with them which is almost impossible for me, other folks are capable of panning with them.

 

[BorderBirder]

Interesting PL and Woody.
The type in this series was not for perching! The best options I found involved observing their loose ‘circuit’ and noting where their flight slowed or hovered with approximate focus at the ready and refining manually - and aiming to maximise contrast and then sharpness if I could keep in the frame long enough!!
I also just enjoyed the space, the scent of the pines in the mixed woodland and the varieties of dragonfly we were seeing on a fine day !!

 

[PhotoLover]

Interesting PL and Woody.
The type in this series was not for perching! The best options I found involved observing their loose ‘circuit’ and noting where their flight slowed or hovered with approximate focus at the ready and refining manually - and aiming to maximise contrast and then sharpness if I could keep in the frame long enough!!
I also just enjoyed the space, the scent of the pines in the mixed woodland and the varieties of dragonfly we were seeing on a fine day !!

My favorite shot of yours is probably the next to last one, nice and sharp. Like the ones I've had (modest) success with, it's a larger dragonfly, my seek app thinks it a Sedge Darner; pretty critter.

The one's I've gotten decent in flight shots of are Spotted-wing Gliders, Common Green Darners, Red Saddlebags, and Black Saddlebags. All are larger dragonflies. I've never had any luck with the smaller dragonflies.

 

[BorderBirder]

Thanks PL! All the images are way sharper than seen here. For some reason they are more affected than usual by the resolution constraints here. Perhaps I should have added sharpening on export.

 

[PhotoLover]

Thanks PL! All the images are way sharper than seen here. For some reason they are more affected than usual by the resolution constraints here. Perhaps I should have added sharpening on export.

I hear you. Some photos I've posted do quite well downsized, others do not. I posted one picture in a thread (as part of a critique post) and I had two posters insisting I missed focus on the eyes. Despite that fact that I was looking at the original full-res image on my 5k monitor and saying "no ... the eye was in focus." However, I got much useful and interesting remarks in that thread from all responders so all was good. Anyway, I've started posting links to flickr images so whatever the merits (or lack thereof) of the photo, they will show up.

However, my comment about your photo also reflects that you have the entire torso in focus, which is not necessary for a good shot of course, but with the interesting markings on that dragonfly a nice bonus.

 

[NorthernFocus]

Nice work. A subject I've not attempted to tackle.

 

[BorderBirder]

Thanks again PL, and interesting to hear your posting experience.
I know a lot of guys on here use Flickr for that reason. I may expand in that direction, currently using Dropbox which is full res, but somewhat clunky for sharing. I am going to explore cloud based options as I am more often wishing to share n show from my phone or iPad.
I bet there are good threads on here!!

 

[BorderBirder]

Nice work. A subject I've not attempted to tackle.

Thanks Dan. They are teasing creatures and it took a full morning session! Really enjoyed it and will try to go back for more, trying @jeffnles1 idea of sleeping early am dragonflies.
Might not manage it this season though.

 

[PhotoLover]

Thanks again PL, and interesting to hear your posting experience.
I know a lot of guys on here use Flickr for that reason. I may expand in that direction, currently using Dropbox which is full res, but somewhat clunky for sharing. I am going to explore cloud based options as I am more often wishing to share n show from my phone or iPad.
I bet there are good threads on here!!

The thread where I asked about how to use flickr is here: https://bcgforums.com/threads/how-t...resentation-forums-using-a-flickr-link.36378/

I started posting with flickr because I'd post a picture I'd like, and it simply didn't look good downsized. A few did, even looked great, many did not. Not necessarily out of focus, just not good.

More generally, while my flickr account is all private, basically, I'll sometimes send a link to a flickr album to friends or family with a bunch of photos (our vacation, here is a cool sequence of an Eagle taking a fish, etc). LR has a (at times flaky) plugin to upload to flickr. It's pretty convenient to use, making for a nice workflow. You do have to pay for a "pro" membership in flickr to avoid ads while viewing.

 

[BorderBirder]

The thread where I asked about how to use flickr is here: https://bcgforums.com/threads/how-t...resentation-forums-using-a-flickr-link.36378/

I started posting with flickr because I'd post a picture I'd like, and it simply didn't look good downsized. A few did, even looked great, many did not. Not necessarily out of focus, just not good.

More generally, while my flickr account is all private, basically, I'll sometimes send a link to a flickr album to friends or family with a bunch of photos (our vacation, here is a cool sequence of an Eagle taking a fish, etc). LR has a (at times flaky) plugin to upload to flickr. It's pretty convenient to use, making for a nice workflow. You do have to pay for a "pro" membership in flickr to avoid ads while viewing.

Thanks PL!! Very helpful. I shall check out the Flickr option…

 

[jeffnles1]

Thanks Dan. They are teasing creatures and it took a full morning session! Really enjoyed it and will try to go back for more, trying @jeffnles1 idea of sleeping early am dragonflies.
Might not manage it this season though.

Here a couple sleeping dragons from the past couple years. I live in Kentucky so our "dragons in dew" season is about to start. Usually late August until early October.

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[BorderBirder]

Great stuff Jeff! What time of day was that for you and were they obliging?
Enjoy the season… my activities have just been interrupted by COVID!

Quite a lot about in UK at present

 

[Andrew Lamberson]

SUPER!

 

[jeffnles1]

Great stuff Jeff! What time of day was that for you and were they obliging?
Enjoy the season… my activities have just been interrupted by COVID!

Quite a lot about in UK at present

Hope you stay well. The morning "sleeping dragon" shots are all during the first 45 minutes of daylight. For the "dew covered" shots, foggy mornings are best and they give you another 30 or so minutes before the shadows get harsh and the dragons awake. I search from the shore of lakes to about 30 or so yards (27 meters plus or minus) of the shoreline in tall grass and weeds. Be prepared to be wet from mid thigh down as you walk through the tall grass looking for sleeping dragons.

Our season is coming up. It has been unusually dry here the past few weeks with no foggy mornings. Hopefully that turns around in the next week or two.

If you caught COVID, I hope you recover quickly and if you don't have it, I hope it stays that way and you keep healthy.

Jeff

 

[BorderBirder]

Yes Covid !!

I can picture your outing…thanks Jeff

 

[StefanSC]

I'd be fascinated in what techniques people have used to get shots of these erratically
moving diaphonous creatures.

That's the fun part... they actually don't move erratically.

If you just wait patiently and observe them, most dragonflies move in specific patterns over what they deem their hunting grounds, stopping to hover at certain places for a short while.

Once you figure out their flight patterns and where they hover, you just need a camera with fast FPS and a long telephoto with great magnification (the old Nikkor 300mm f4D AF-S with an 1.4x TC comes to mind).

With a bit of careful focusing you can get decent shots almost constantly. What helps a lot is a camera that has Group-AF or Near-AF (or any other means of telling it to focus on the nearest item to it).

I've managed to get good DiF shots with a D500, an OM-1, a half broken D810 and a Panasonic G9 that most online pundits say it can't focus to save it's life .

 

[BorderBirder]

That's the fun part... they actually don't move erratically.

If you just wait patiently and observe them, most dragonflies move in specific patterns over what they deem their hunting grounds, stopping to hover at certain places for a short while.

Once you figure out their flight patterns and where they hover, you just need a camera with fast FPS and a long telephoto with great magnification (the old Nikkor 300mm f4D AF-S with an 1.4x TC comes to mind).

With a bit of careful focusing you can get decent shots almost constantly. What helps a lot is a camera that has Group-AF or Near-AF (or any other means of telling it to focus on the nearest item to it).

I've managed to get good DiF shots with a D500, an OM-1, a half broken D810 and a Panasonic G9 that most online pundits say it can't focus to save it's life .

Thanks Stefan
Yes I found most success that way by observing their routes. Some of course are noticeably more active and less inclined to hover conveniently
The best ones I got were using that technique, but with approx pre focus as they entered their hovering / slower flight zone and then using manual focus to attempt accurate focus.
I like your idea of the focus mode that prioritises near objects - I tried AA and wide area large but found them wanting. I’d be very interested in modes anyone has found helpful on Z8/9 in the light of your comments.
Working my way out of Covid at the moment and hence can’t get near them anyway!!