Canon 5D, 180mm f3.5 L, ISO 400, f8.0, 1/40th, AI servo focus, tripod, 580EX fill flash, cropped a bit, this is about 85% of original.
Metered in manual for the background and used ETTL2 at +1/3 stop to provide fill flash for the dragonfly. This was taken in a shady area by a pond and without the flash I got very blurry images due to the slow shutter. The flash helped to get the dragonfly sharp and freeze the wings, (although there is some faint 2nd curtain sync effect on the wings).
Tried a new location this evening, Red Lodge Pond in Wiltshire not far from my home. Several territorial males where patrolling the edges of the pond and if I sat and waited long enough they would hover close by, in fact they would sometimes hover just a few inches from my face which was a bit intimidating!. Problem was getting the focus locked on before they moved on but I eventually worked out a technique for it by the end of the session. I managed 19 shots with only this one acceptable in terms of sharpness and pose. Looking forward to a return visit to try and improve.
cheers
Sean
p.s. I think this is a male Southern Hawker Dragonfly but please correct me if you think I am mistaken.
Very nice Sean. Love the fact it's in flight and the wing movement is frozen. These aren't really my thing but I'm starting to appreciate these insects and shots thanks to you and others. Cheers
Graeme
Posted by David Taylor on July 27, 2006 at 6:59 PM
Difficult to get right and I think you've achieved it. Patience is a
virtue aspired to by the many, achieved by the few.
Having checked Steve Brooks' excellent field guide, it certainly looks like a mature male Southern Hawker.
I was thinking wow 1/40th of a second this is amazing, but then spotted you used flash so actual speed is much much greater. You can tell its close as even at F/8 its only part in focus. Dead jealous, really miss doing this.
Hello Sean
Good to see these really excellent results from the new lens. Do you think you could have achieved a greater DOF with F10 or would that have slowed things up too much?
Best wishes
Phil
I don't think going to F10 would be enough to get that much more of the dragonfly in focus, it is at too much of an angle to the camera. One thing I have learnt is if you want a shot of a macro subject to be all in focus getting the camera parallel to the subject is vital. Depth of field is so shallow at these distances, often just a couple of mm.
I could have gone to f10 I think here and 1/15th as I am relying on the flash to freeze and light the subject so f10 would work. I also wanted to try some f16 1/125th, ISO 100, type shots to render the background very dark, but I never got the chance. Maybe next time.....
cheers
Sean
Posted by John Chapman on July 28, 2006 at 5:31 AM
Nice shot, must get out and try a few of these in-flight shots, then I'll be able to appreciate the practise required and the number that need to be binned in order to get something decent...
Posted by Paula Graham on July 28, 2006 at 3:15 PM
Well done getting this shot, not an easy task by any means.
Discussion
11 repliesCanon 5D, 180mm f3.5 L, ISO 400, f8.0, 1/40th, AI servo focus, tripod, 580EX fill flash, cropped a bit, this is about 85% of original.
Metered in manual for the background and used ETTL2 at +1/3 stop to provide fill flash for the dragonfly. This was taken in a shady area by a pond and without the flash I got very blurry images due to the slow shutter. The flash helped to get the dragonfly sharp and freeze the wings, (although there is some faint 2nd curtain sync effect on the wings).
Tried a new location this evening, Red Lodge Pond in Wiltshire not far from my home. Several territorial males where patrolling the edges of the pond and if I sat and waited long enough they would hover close by, in fact they would sometimes hover just a few inches from my face which was a bit intimidating!. Problem was getting the focus locked on before they moved on but I eventually worked out a technique for it by the end of the session. I managed 19 shots with only this one acceptable in terms of sharpness and pose. Looking forward to a return visit to try and improve.
cheers
Sean
p.s. I think this is a male Southern Hawker Dragonfly but please correct me if you think I am mistaken.
Graeme
virtue aspired to by the many, achieved by the few.
Having checked Steve Brooks' excellent field guide, it certainly looks like a mature male Southern Hawker.
Tim
Good to see these really excellent results from the new lens. Do you think you could have achieved a greater DOF with F10 or would that have slowed things up too much?
Best wishes
Phil
I don't think going to F10 would be enough to get that much more of the dragonfly in focus, it is at too much of an angle to the camera. One thing I have learnt is if you want a shot of a macro subject to be all in focus getting the camera parallel to the subject is vital. Depth of field is so shallow at these distances, often just a couple of mm.
I could have gone to f10 I think here and 1/15th as I am relying on the flash to freeze and light the subject so f10 would work. I also wanted to try some f16 1/125th, ISO 100, type shots to render the background very dark, but I never got the chance. Maybe next time.....
cheers
Sean
nice shot of the Dragonfly.
John
Aberdeen
Regards
Barrie
Another cracking Dragonfly in flight, good stuff.
Danny