Dragonfly Being Attacked

This short article features 6 consecutive images of a dragonfly being attacked by a much smaller insect, perhaps of wasp of some sort. All of the photographs were captured handheld using my E-M1X’s Pro Capture H technology.

Yesterday I spent some time at the Royal Botanical Gardens photographing dragonflies in flight. I was experimenting with various shutter speeds and basically trying to capture dragonflies in flight at every opportunity.

The following 6 consecutive ‘slice of life’ images were captured in a total of 1/10th of a second. I’ve observed different species of birds attacking dragonflies in flight, but this is the first time I was able to document a dragonfly being attacked by another insect.

OM-D E-M!~X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, 1/5000, ISO-1250, Pro Capture H, cropped to 3686 pixels on the width, subject distance 2.5 metres
OM-D E-M!~X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, 1/5000, ISO-1250, Pro Capture H, cropped to 3475 pixels on the width, subject distance 2.5 metres
OM-D E-M!~X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, 1/5000, ISO-1250, Pro Capture H, cropped to 3398 pixels on the width, subject distance 2.5 metres
OM-D E-M!~X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, 1/5000, ISO-1250, Pro Capture H, cropped to 3656 pixels on the width, subject distance 2.5 metres
OM-D E-M!~X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, 1/5000, ISO-1250, Pro Capture H, cropped to 3761 pixels on the width, subject distance 2.5 metres
OM-D E-M!~X + M.Zuiko 100-400 mm f/5-6.3 IS @ 400 mm, efov 800 mm, f/6.3, 1/5000, ISO-1250, Pro Capture H, cropped to 3907 pixels on the width, subject distance 2.5 metres

The dragonfly being attacked in the final frame of the series is flying out of focus. I left this image in the set as it documented the outcome of the smaller insect’s aggression.

Capturing a small ‘slice of life’ with my camera is always a special treat. Documenting this particular ‘slice of life’ would not have been possible without the use of Pro Capture H technology.

Technical Note:

Photographs were captured handheld using camera gear as noted in the EXIF data. All Pro Capture H photographs were captured using my standard settings for this mode: 60 frames-per-second, single AF point, Pre-Shutter Frames and Frame Limited both set to 15. Images were produced from RAW files using my standard approach in post.  Images were resized for web use. This is the 1,192 article published on this website since its original inception in 2015.

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2 thoughts on “Dragonfly Being Attacked”

  1. Hi Thomas,

    Some brilliant captures, what was the outcome of the attack ?
    I have taken similar images though mainly of Common Blue Damselflies ‘Enallagma cyathigerum’ attacking Emperor Dragonflies ‘Anax imperator’ here in the UK which generally ends up with the Damselfly nipping off a pieces of the Dragonflies wing.

    Best regards
    Dave

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