This article shares a selection photographs of dragonflies landing and discusses technique, including the use of Pro Capture H to create these images. All of the photographs in this article were captured handheld during a short 90 minute visit to the Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG).

NOTE: Click on images to enlarge.

When I’m out photographing dragonflies in flight I typically capture far more Pro Capture H image runs of dragonflies landing than of them taking off. The ratio is probably at least 5 to 1 in favour of dragonflies landing as I find this scenario produces far more useable photographs.

The photograph above is of a dragonfly in the process of leaving its perched position as it is taking flight. I really like the precise moment that this photograph captures, with only one leg of the dragonfly still on the leaf where it was perched. To me this creates a wonderful moment of anticipation… and is the only reason that I occasionally attempt to capture photographs of dragonflies taking flight.

Overall I captured more than 1,100 images during my visit to the RBG and took the time to process less than 10% of those photographs in post.

More than half of the images that I deleted were similar to the photograph above and showed the dragonfly after it had already landed. To my eye there was nothing ‘wrong’ with these images in terms of exposure, sharpness or composition. I just didn’t want to clog up my hard drive with typical images of perched dragonflies.

Over 100 frames of dragonflies taking flight were deleted as the dragonfly had already exited the composition. Most of the other deleted images were ones where the dragonfly’s wings had obscured its head… or I did not like the wing position of the dragonfly… or the effects of rolling shutter were too pronounced.

The importance of observation.

When capturing images of dragonflies landing it is critical to take time to observe individual dragonflies to assess whether they will be a good subject. Like many living things, dragonflies are creatures of habit. They will often return to the exact same perch numerous times before moving on to a different area of the pond.

Once I find a dragonfly that is returning to the exact same perch I need to determine if I can physically position myself to get the right shooting angle and background to create my desired photographs. Understanding a dragonfly’s flight path is critical as the depth-of-field with which we have to work can be quite shallow.

Depth-of-field considerations.

Regardless of the camera gear you use it is important to understand how much depth of field your equipment will create at various shooting distances, focal lengths and apertures. For example, the image above was captured using a M4/3 lens at 400 mm (efov 800 mm), with an aperture of f/11, and a distance to subject of 2.9 metres (~9.5 feet).

The depth-of-field under these shooting parameters is 1.54 cm, or about 0.6 inches. It is critical to keep in mind that the actual focal length of the lens used helps determine the depth-of-field. The equivalent field-of-view (efov) is irrelevant.

The image above is a good illustration of how shallow the depth-of-field can be when photographing dragonflies at close distances, even when using an aperture of f/11. You can see that while the head and body of the dragonfly are in focus, its tail is not. This is due to the flight path of the dragonfly coming at the camera, rather than being parallel to it.

The dragonfly image above was captured using an aperture of f/6.3, a focal length of 400 mm, and from a distance of 3 metres. This creates depth-of-field of 0.93 centimetres, or about 0.37 inches. You can see that the entire length of the dragonfly’s body is in focus, even though the actual depth-of-field is more shallow than was in the previous image. This is because the angle of flight of the dragonfly was parallel to my camera’s sensor.

To increase the available depth-of-field a photographer can use a shorter focal length, move away from their subject, and stop down their aperture. The caveat, of course, is the subject dragonfly becoming smaller in the composition. How much cropping latitude you have with your camera and how you want to use depth-of-field can enter into your decisions about focal length, distance to subject and aperture.

Advantages of photographing dragonflies landing.

The reasons that I prefer to photograph dragonflies landing rather than taking off are threefold. The first is the speed of flight of the dragonfly. They are much faster when taking flight compared to when they are coming in to land. Using a frame rate of 60 frames per second, I’m lucky to get 3-4 frames of a dragonfly taking flight, compared to 6-8 frames when it is coming in to land.

The second reason is that dragonflies coming in to land often use more looping flight approaches which creates more variation in the background, as well as differences in flight trajectory.

The third factor is that dragonflies landing will hold their legs in different positions from tucked up next to their bodies to fully extended depending on how close they are to their intended landing spot. This creates more variation in body position with resulting images.

Shutter release timing.

The objective of your image run will determine your shutter release timing. For example, if your intent is to capture dragonflies in flight as they are about to land with their legs fully extended as seen in the image above, you may use slightly earlier shutter release timing.

If your objective is to get a photograph of a dragonfly just about to touch down, you may wait until it has just landed before fully depressing your shutter release when using Pro Capture H.

The angle of a dragonfly’s approach can also affect your shutter release timing. if the dragonfly is flying towards your camera as it makes its landing approach, you may slightly delay your shutter release to help ensure it will be within the pre-focused area of your composition.

Auto-Focus Point Selection

When using Pro Capture H, I always use a single, small auto-focus point. With dragonflies that are perched parallel to my camera’s sensor, I place the single AF point on the dragonfly’s head or on the hump on its back just behind its head. I always avoid placing the AF point on a dragonfly’s wing.

If the dragonfly is positioned on an angle I will try to position my AF point where the dragonfly’s head meets its body. We need to remember that there typically is as much in focus in front of our focus point as there is behind it.

In situations when a dragonfly has just taken flight and I need to pre-focus on a point on a leaf where I am expecting it to land, I do my best to pick a spot that would be where its head and body would meet. To do this I need to imagine the perched dragonfly in my mind.

Composing the frame.

How you compose your frame will depend entirely on the flight path of the subject dragonfly that you have been observing. The dragonfly in the above image would typically come in left to right at a higher altitude, then make an angled turn towards its right. It would then continue to fly down to its perch.

Knowing the likely flight path of this particular dragonfly I composed my image with its perch in the lower left hand corner of the frame. As expected, the dragonfly entered in the top left of my frame, did its angled turn and headed towards its perch. This allowed me to capture the photograph above.

Continual observation of individual dragonflies is required as they all can have their idiosyncrasies when it comes to their landing approach.

Shoot from eye level.

The most pleasing images of dragonflies landing are often taken from an eye level position. When planning to photograph dragonflies, bees and other insects, or flowers, I never leave home without taking a short stool with me so I can lower my shooting position.

If I could only have one… and had to choose between a stool or a tripod to use for the rest of my life… the stool would easily win out. Since I bought my Olympus gear over four years ago I have never used a tripod or monopod. If I experiment with Live Composite in the future, I’ll need to use one of my tripods.

Dragonflies landing photographic technique.

Using Pro Capture H with single point auto-focus makes photographing dragonflies landing quite simple. The first thing is to choose a dragonfly that is very active taking flight and returning quickly to its perch. Then, focus on the dragonfly and half depress your shutter release to begin spooling images into temporary memory.

When the dragonfly launches into flight continue to half depress your shutter release even though the dragonfly is no longer in the frame. Once the dragonfly re-enters your frame, then fully depress your shutter release. The timing of the shutter release was discussed earlier in this article.  If you don’t have a camera with Pro Capture H, you will need to use a tripod and a shutter release cable to start capturing images as the dragonfly approaches its previous perch.

Respond to the unexpected.

Interactions between dragonflies and other flying insects can unexpectedly happen. Learn to respond instinctively to these opportunities. They often happen so quickly that many times all you will see in your EVF is a quick blur. Fully depress your shutter release to capture what just happened… you may get some pleasant surprizes.

Don’t worry about ISO.

When I’m out photographing dragonflies in flight I assume my ISO value will likely be somewhere between ISO-2000 and ISO-5000 based on the available light. I always use Auto-ISO on my E-M1X and let my camera choose the appropriate ISO value. I use exposure compensation as needed as you can see with the EXIF data on the images in this article. There are many available options with noise reduction software. So, choose whatever one you like best and learn to use it so ISO becomes a non-issue for this type of subject matter.

Pro Capture H Settings.

Experiment with your camera to see what settings work best for your shooting style and response time. I always shoot at 60 frames per second using a single, small auto-focus point. At this frame rate the first frame locks exposure and auto-focus. This is perfect when waiting for a dragonfly to return to its perch. I have my E-M1X set to 15 Pre-Shutter Frames and have my Frame Limiter also set to 15. This means that once I fully depress my shutter release I will not get any additional frames beyond what was stored in my camera’s temporary memory.

This combination of 60/15/15 means that I have 1/4 second of response time to capture my images. I find this works very well for me… but whether it would work for you or not is something you would need to decide. If you find that most of your frames show the dragonfly already landed, you’ll need to increase the number of Pre-Shutter Frames and adjust your Frame Limiter accordingly.

 Technical Note

Photographs were captured handheld using camera gear as noted in the EXIF data.  Images were produced from RAW files using my standard process. This is the 1,299 article published on this website since its original inception in 2015.

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