Dragonflies in flight: My top tips

Today I go down to the canal and photograph some dragonflies in flight. It was a lot of fun doing this, showing you my way of getting sharp shots of these very tricky insects. Certainly I hope you find the tips I give useful.

[@capturingnaturewithsandip]

Awesome so love video

[@geireriknielsen]

@@capturingnaturewithsandip Thank you so much. It is fun to capture some film of dragonflies in flight.

[@stephenelderphoto]

Fantastic footage, stills and information Geir. This was top class, thank you!

[@geireriknielsen]

Thank you so much Stephen. Glad you enjoyed it

[@Joe_I_Hadley]

The dragon flies are so amazing 👏

[@geireriknielsen]

Totally. Every summer I spend hours watching them and photographing them. Amazing hunters.

[@Joe_I_Hadley]

@geireriknielsen9075 I've been trying to photograph them around my yard. I only have a 300mm. I can't get close to them.

[@geireriknielsen]

@@Joe_I_Hadley Are you able to see where they perch? Dragonflies tend to go back to the same areas all the time so if you can work that out, perhaps you can get close enough when they are resting to at least get some nice shots of them resting. You might also be able to get shots of them taking off and landing depending on your patience. Yards I would expect to be a little bit difficult. Do you have a pond where they lay their eggs or are you able to figure out where their spawning ground is? You might find you have some luck there. I was only a yard away from the one dragonfly laying eggs in the film. It sat quite still. Just some ideas in the hope you might succeed.

[@Joe_I_Hadley]

@geireriknielsen there is a pond but it's surrounded by blackberry vines. Limited aces. There was one perching it had gold wing I didn't have the camera. I got some shots of another one it would sit with its abdomen straight in the air. There gone now. There's some damsel flys.

[@BMadPhoto]

wow you really froze that dragonfly wing in flight - was that first image at 1/3200? Yet again my friend you have inspired me to get out and try something new - I have not taken out the tele lens for a while, this looks like fun! Off to the local pond :)

[@geireriknielsen]

Yes it was. Glad you enjoyed it and that i managed to inspire you. Makes me very happy

[@l.j.nielsen7594]

Glad the sparrow missed and you got your shot 😊

[@geireriknielsen]

So was I 🤣

[@DaveCooper-s1l]

Great video Geir lots of useful information, I photograph dragons and damsels inflight using a 100mm macro lens ignoring the autofocus and using only manual mode generally with a 2500 shutter speed hand held. It takes some practice, but worthwhile for the clarity of the images.

[@geireriknielsen]

Thank you. How do you get close enough? Wait by the perches?

[@RagnhildNielsen]

Stilig Geir