Flights of the dragonflies
(please click on an image for a sharper, higher resolution version)
While waiting on the lake at Wild Rose for a heron to drop out of the trees and do something (ideally fly towards me and then start fishing closely 🙂 I enjoyed watching the dragonflies that were buzzing in and out of the grasses along the shore around me. The courting seems to be in full swing so there are wild chases along the water, hovering showdowns and kamikaze dives.
I end up turning my lens away from the bird and towards these far more cooperative fliers. Here are a few images of some of the dragonflies that I was able to photograph and keep in focus. It was very tricky using a long telephoto (500mm with a 1.4x extender) to get them sharp but the ones that turned out made me pretty happy.
Christopher Martin Photography 
Excellent. From what I have been reading and noticing this summer, varieties of dragonflies & butterflies are moving further north because of the changes in the Canadian summer climate.
August 31, 2012 at 6:50 pm
These are great. they move too fast for me. What was your shutter speed and lens length?
August 19, 2012 at 12:43 am
Hi Jane,
I was at 700mm on a full frame 5D Mark III. I had a 500mm canon EF L series lens and a 1.4X extender.
I tried to keep my shutter faster than 1500 but you would have to look at the Jpeg file’s details to get the specific shutter speed.
Cheers,
Chris
August 21, 2012 at 8:39 pm
Thanks for the info Chris.Those extenders obviously work well, will put on my wish list.Again, great shots.
August 22, 2012 at 12:46 pm
Love these!
August 18, 2012 at 8:37 pm