Blue Dasher Dragonfly photographed with a 300mm lens + extension tubes.

Photographing dragonflies is the insect world equivalent of photographing hummingbirds. Like hummingbirds, dragonflies exhibit a wide range of bright colors and present a challenge to photograph, at rest or in-flight. Who hasn't spent a lazy summer's day along the shore of their favorite river or lake and watched the dragonflies passing by? When I stop and photograph dragonflies I am always amazed with the intricacies of their design. This article is not about photographing ultra-macro images of dragonflies. This article is about photographing the whole dragonfly and revealing the lace-like veins in the wings, revealing the richly colored bodies, and capturing the unique behavior of dragonflies.

Just about any short to moderate focal length telephoto lens will work for photographing dragonflies. Lenses from 100mm to 300mm, or longer, can be used to good effect. The longer the telephoto lens, the greater the working distance between you and the dragonfly allowing you to get good close-up images without scaring off the dragonfly. My favorite dragonfly photography kit (shown below) is a Canon EF 300mm f 4L telephoto lens mounted on either my Canon EOS 30D dSLR or my Canon EOS 1d MkII dSLR. The closer the minimum focusing distance of the lens the easier it is to photograph dragonflies. If your lens does not focus close enough by itself , adding a 12mm extension tube or adding a 25mm extension tube between the camera body and the lens will allow a lens to focus plenty close. I have, at times, used my Canon EF 500mm f 4L IS telephoto lens to photograph flying and hovering dragonflies. Equipped with a Canon EF 2x II teleconverter and a 25mm extension tube I can make some frame-filling images of flying dragonflies. Occasionally, I will add a 1.4x teleconverter, too, for a bit of additional image magnification.

The great majority of my dragonfly images are made using natural sunlight. Occasionally I will use a bit of fill flash to help control shadows, especially when photographing hovering dragonflies, and during the times of day when lighting can be very harsh. Sometimes, too, I will use flash on cloudy days to add a little sparkle to the wings of a dragonfly. The camera, lens, and flash combination is mounted on a lightweight tripod. So many photographers resist the use of a tripod. I believe that the continued, habitual use of a tripod is the most important method to making very sharp images. Occasionally, I will use a monopod for very skittish species of dragonflies but, for the most part, nearly all of my images are made with the camera mounted on a tripod.

It always helps to know a bit about the natural history of the subjects you intend to photograph. Knowing the natural history of your subjects can help you predict where to find them before going out on a photo session. Dragonflies spend the majority of their lives as an aquatic nymph (larva). The nymphs are quite predatory and feed on aquatic insects, fish frye, and sometimes smaller adult fish. Most species of dragonflies spend only a few weeks to 2 or 3 months as a nymph.

Dragonflies have an incomplete life cycle. There is no pupal stage in their development. When ready to hatch into an adult, the nymph crawls out of the water on any handy perch: reeds, bull rushes, sticks, and rocks. The skin along the back splits open and the new adult dragonfly emerges from the nymphal husk. The new adult may hang off the perch for several hours as the wings and exoskeleton harden. Adults at this stage are very prone to predation. As adults, dragonflies have a life expectancy of only a few weeks Generally, you will find adult male dragonflies cruising near water. Adult female dragonflies have a tendency to stay back from the water source until time for mating. Adult female dragonflies may sometimes be observed several miles from the nearest body of water. When ready to mate, the male dragonfly clasps the female dragonfly behind the female's head using claspers on the end of the male's abdomen. The female curls her abdomen forward to pick up sperm packets stored in an organ at the bottom of the male's thorax. This configuration is known as a "mating wheel". Once the eggs are fertilized, the female dragonfly may dip her abdomen in the water to lay the eggs. Some species accomplish this while engaged in a mating wheel, in other species, the female may lay her eggs dipping her abdomen in the water as she flies alone, still other species, the female crawls down convenient perches to lay her eggs. All of the adult behaviors can be easily photographed.

Wandering Glider Dragonfly

Mexican Amberwing Dragonfly

When I photograph dragonflies I like to have as much distance between me and the dragonfly as is practical. That is why I use medium to long telephoto lenses. Photographing dragonflies from a distance disrupts the dragonfly's behavior the least. Photographing dragonflies from a distance, also, allows me to better control the background in an image. For my tastes, dragonflies are best photographed on plain, untextured backgrounds to reveal the intricate patterning of the wings. The wings of a dragonfly are quite transparent and the intricate veining of the wings can be lost against a background full of twigs, sticks, and gravel. Compare the two images, above. The background behind the Wandering Glider dragonfly, on the left, is quite "busy" with lots of distracting details which visually interferes with and detracts from the intricate wing venation. In fact, it is nearly impossible to see the wing venation in the right hand side of the image. Contrast this image with the image of the Mexican Amberwing dragonfly, on the right. The Mexican Amberwing dragonfly's wings are set against a clear, blue sky allowing all of the wing venation to be clearly visible. Not all dragonfly images have to be silhouetted against the sky, however. Distant, out-of-focus vegetation that appears as a flat wash of color makes for good backgrounds, too. Simple, uncluttered backgrounds visually presents a dragonfly much better than cluttered backgrounds.

Stealth and patience are much needed in photographing dragonflies. Wearing drab clothing will help you sneak up on dragonflies much better than loud colors. Insects are particularly sensitive to Ultraviolet light and loud colors appear bright because of large amount of brighteners in the fabric dye that reflects a good amount of ultraviolet light. I get some funny looks from other people, sometimes, because I chase and photograph dragonflies wearing camouflage shirts and blue jeans pants. A dragonfly's eyesight is somewhat like a frog's eyesight and is based on detecting movement. The more slowly you approach a dragonfly, the more likely you are to approach a dragonfly within photographic range. Avoid rapid movements of your arms and face. Approach slowly with your camera at ready and don't be frustrated should a dragonfly become spooked and flies off. Stand still for a few minutes as a spooked dragonfly will commonly return to the same, favorite perch time and again.

Blue Dasher Dragonfly coming in for a landing.

Wandering Glider Dragonfly in hover.

Because dragonflies will repeatedly return to favorite perches and even favorite hovering areas, it is possible to make in-flight images of dragonflies. To make the image of the Blue Dasher dragonfly, upper left, I pre-focused my lens on a perch to which the dragonfly was repeatedly returning. I would watch the area around the perch and fire a short burst of images, using the continuous shooting mode of my camera, as the dragonfly approached and landed on the perch. Sometimes you will have to photograph several series of departures and arrivals to get just the right composition. The hovering Wandering Glider dragonfly, upper right, was photographed while the dragonfly returned repeatedly to the same area, hovering while watching out for its next meal. Again, I prefocused my lens in the general area to which the dragonfly repeatedly returned and captured a short burst of images while the dragonfly hovered in place.

Finally, make every attempt to position your camera as parallel as possible to the plane of the dragonfly so as to capture as much of the dragonfly in focus as is possible. You will be photographing dragonflies at fairly close ranges. The closer you are to your subject, the higher the image magnification becomes on the film or ccd sensor. This results in a very shallow depth of field, especially when using wide lens aperture settings to maintain high enough shutter speeds to photograph dragonflies. By keeping the focus plane of the camera as parallel as possible to the dragonfly you can spread that thin depth of field over a wider area and retain most of the dragonfly in focus. Nothing ruins a dragonfly image faster than having the plane of the wings in focus but the head and abdomen out of focus. The more area you can keep of the dragonfly in the plane of the depth of field, the more attractive will be your image.

That's it, that's how I photograph dragonflies. My techniques are not hard to master with a little patience and a lot of practice. However, the practice is fun and the rewards are great. I have a hallway in my home that is lined with 8" x 10" framed prints of dragonflies in flight and motionless on perches. This hallway always attracts our visitor's attention and I often find our visitors strolling down the hallway, entranced by the images.

You can view more dragonfly images in my Image Galleries, HERE.