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Dragonflies are among the most easily recognizable and entertaining of all insects. Many are brilliantly colored in amazing shades of red, blue, yellow, and green. Drangon fies like warm sunny days and you can find them near just about any body of water. There are many varieties, like the massive Emperors that cruise low above the surface in pursuit of prey, such as flies, bees and even smaller dragonflies. Skimmers and Dropwings perch conspicuously on fringing grass or reeds often bursting off to chase rivals and capture prey. The brilliant Jewels glitter alongside rapids, and delicate Sprites dance above the shallows. They all provide excellent subjects for photography.
Capturing these fascinating species with a camera requires some patients but can be very rewarding. You must always remember that the head of a dragonfly appears to consist wholly of its two enormous compound eyes. These eyes allow the dragonfly to have a field of view of almost 360 degrees. As each eye is composed of almost 10,000 omatidia, the insect is able to discern even the slightest movement. This makes the whole process of getting close enough to photograph one an interesting challenge.
However, Dragonflies can frequently be very cooperative, once you understand how to approach them. They are territorial by nature and tend to come back to the same spot once they realize that you're not making an overt attempt to get them. As a matter of fact it is not at all unusual for a Dragonfly to return to the same branch several times for over a 5 or 10 minute period, landing and flying off again after a few seconds.
For this photograph I observed a dragon fly perched on a small dead branch. I watch as it would fly off and perch on yet another branch near by and then return to the first branch. I prepared the shot by setting my camera, a Canon PowerShot Pro1 into super macro mode. I then turned on the LCD display. I find in this kind of insect close up having my head back and away from the intrusive lens helps make the insect less skittish and more likely to cooperate. I then approached the branch until I was six feet away from it and waited for the Dragonfly to return. Now comes the patience part. Each time the Dragonfly would land I crept forward, as if in a slow motion movie, while moving the camera closer and closer to position. If I moved a little to fast, as I did a couple of times during this shot, it would fly off and land on a nearby branch. I would then just stand quietly until it returned back to the branch I was moving in on. As the Dragonfly became more comfortable with my presence it would linger longer and longer on that branch allowing me to get close and fire off several shots.
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