# DragonFly in Flight



## PushingTin (Feb 3, 2009)

I thought little birds in flight were quick.... catching a dragonfly in flight was quite a challenge.

Let me know what you think - thanks


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## Ockie (Feb 3, 2009)

beautiful shot!


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## EricD (Feb 3, 2009)

focus is spot on!! I know how difficult those critters can be to get locked in on


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## BoblyBill (Feb 3, 2009)

Nice capture! That has to be very hard to do... And you did it perfectly.


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## SpaceNut (Feb 3, 2009)

You handled the challenge well! Great capture.


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## Ls3D (Feb 3, 2009)

I actually cursed upon seeing your amazing capture! Awesome.  Did not expect the 300mm, but that explains the beautiful diffusion. Autofocus?

-Shea


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## Overread (Feb 3, 2009)

Beauty of a flying shot - and very impressive that you managed to get the focus all the way from the back to the front of a very long bug! 

Ls3D its surprising but many flying insect shots are not taken with macro lenses - instead many people use longer focal length lenses for their improved auto focus speed and longer ranges (since insects can get away from you quick). Also extension tubes are often used to reduce the minimum focusing distances of the longer lenses so one can get closer and get a bigger bug in the shot - though you do lose your ability to focus on further off targets.


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## PushingTin (Feb 3, 2009)

Thank you all for the great comments 

Yes it was autofocus on the 300mm F4 lens.


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## Montana (Feb 4, 2009)

Most excellent capture!


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## hardcorp (Feb 4, 2009)

That is incredible!


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## jaharris1001 (Feb 4, 2009)

excellent capture !! The light is really nice and a beautifull bokeh as well, very sharp and nice detail, catching a dragon in flight certainly IS a challenge , Ive been photographing them for years and dont have one as good as this one in flight, well done indeed !!


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## PushingTin (Feb 6, 2009)

Thank you all so much for the wonderful comments


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## TwoRails (Feb 6, 2009)

One word: sweet!!!


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## Miss Sony (Feb 6, 2009)

Amazing shot!  Reminds me of my younger days, spending hours after school trying to catch dragonflies


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## Robstar1619 (Feb 9, 2009)

Awsome in flight capture.


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## sabbath999 (Feb 9, 2009)

Nice shot.

My only quip: the critter is actually a damselfly, not a dragonfly


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## poppy67 (Feb 9, 2009)

I'm green with envy what a superb capture!


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## PushingTin (Feb 10, 2009)

Thanks for all the comments  damselfly? never even heard of that before - i will do some more google research, thx for the info


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## The Empress (Feb 10, 2009)

WOW great job on capturing the little fella lol perfect shot


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## doenoe (Feb 10, 2009)

oh, nice one :thumbup:
sabbath: you sure this is a damselfly? Here in Holland the one in the picture would be a dragonfly. Damsels are thinner and have the eyes on the sides of the head and do not touch eachother on top of the head.


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## 92sir (Feb 10, 2009)

wow thats an amazing capture excellent job!!


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## TwoRails (Feb 10, 2009)

It's hard to tell but it looks like a dragonfly to me.  The easiest way to tell is that damselfly's wings will tuck back when not flying; a dragonfly's wings will stay straight out.  To tell when flying is rough as you have to look at the eyes.  A damselfly's eyes are separate, like so:

File:Sydney flatwing02.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

But a dragonfly's eyes kinda meld with the rest of the head, like so:

File:Tau Emerald inflight edit.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the shot above, the eyes look like a dragonfly's eyes to me.... but it's hard to tell at that angle.


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