How to photograph dragonflies in flight - tutorial

Photographing dragonflies in flight is not easy. Shutter speed, autofocus and other settings have to be right in order to get good photos. In this tutorial I would like to show you how to photograph dragonflies in flight. I hope the tips and tricks will help you!
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[@nordic5490]

Good solid advice, I experienced the same rolling shutter in my R5 shooting DF. My tips for DF in flight on the R5: Set AF to Case 4, and adjust tracking sensitivity to max, and accel decel tracking to max. I was able hit about 25% keepers this way. The R5 focussed like a champ, in centre 9 points, centre point, and eye tracking. Amazing. But, the next outing will be 1st curtain mech for sraight wings. And 4000th sec, same 100-500mm lens @ F9 - more of the body is in focus. You can even manual focus once you have studie dthe flight pattern, and the point where the df likes to return to every 30secs.

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Thanks for your input 😊 yes, manual focus is a valid option, especially with slower cameras

[@davidclode3601]

Great video, thanks Fabian. I sometimes have some success with photos of dragonflies about to land, or take off, from a favourite perch.

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Thanks for mentioning! I will try it next time 😊

[@artworld9799]

Amazing dragonfly and nature, greetings from a new friend💐

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Thanks 😊

[@momentsinanglingessence855]

I was in a position today using my Sony A7iv where I had a dragonfly hovering in front of me, it would go off and come back but I couldn't get it to focus when only 6 feet away. My ISO was on auto and shutter speed set to 1,400, I had it set to Continuous auto focus but it would only focus on the vegetation and not the dragonfly. I'm not sure what I did wrong but I set it to Bird eye, not Animal, was this wrong? or is it something else? 😄. Great video sir 👍

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Did you prefocus? I would try that

[@momentsinanglingessence855]

I didn't no, I'm still learning the camera 😄. I'll try it, thanks.

[@SatnamSingh-pd3yh]

Very helpful video

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Happy to hear 😊

[@bamsemh1]

Have you tried to limit the af distance with the macro lens? Like 5-10 meters or so? It should boost the speed a bit 😊 for me I have to do it in the afternoon, because then I have a chauffeur to drive me out with chair, tripod and so on. So around 3-6pm for me. Sadly when the sun is highest 😬

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Thanks! Yes, with my macro lens I did this. Even though the longer focal range is something like 60cm - infinity. But definitely better than 38cm to infinity 😅

[@theorncampbell4432]

6:18 I don't understand exactly what is meant in this part of the tutorial. Does this mean, wait until the dragonfly is on the centerpoint, then start shooting? When selecting auto-focus method, do you limit to that type, in the "limit AF" menu? I am lucky enough to have a healthy dragonfly population in my yard. I can get lots of practice, but knowing where to start is the hard part. My telephoto lenses are Tamron. I guess I'll see how well the autofocus performs the task.

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

It means that I prefocus manually, and as soon as the dragonfly is close to the focus plane, I activate the autofocus. It doesn’t really matter here, whether you limit some AF areas or not

[@theorncampbell4432]

@@FabianFoppNaturephotography Now I understand. I tried with a 600 mm lens today. I had to back off to about 250mm because those little guys are FAST! 😁 Thanks again for your help. I'll try again in the morning. Maybe I'll try the 70-300mm this time.

[@bamsemh1]

I shoot with Oms Om-1 with Olympus 100-400mm f5-6.3 IS.

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

Sounds like a good combination. Have fun 😊😊

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

I usually use Topaz DeNoise AI to reduze noise in my images (affiliate link): www.topazlabs.com/denoise-ai/ref/901/

[@klackon1]

Have you considered high speed flash? I was out shooting damselflies in flight this morning, and set my OM1 + 300mm f4 + MC14/MC20 to 1/1000th, f8, ISO 200 with my FL900R set to TTL(FP) - high speed flash. I often set the SS to 1/5000th for fast moving insects. I also use a MagMod Magbeam on my flashgun in order to cope with the reduction in light from the flash. Works for me, as HSS can be used in manual mode as well as TTL, so I have complete control over the exposure.

[@NACHALCHAIM]

Your tutorial is only for the super-rich who can afford a $5000 lens like on your camera, and a $2000 camera that can do 1/4000 second shutter speed. But for those of us that have a $300 camera there is a much better way to stop motion of an insect or a hummingbird in midflight. You get a strobe like a Vivitar 285 that allows you to set duration of flash to 1/16000 sec. Then you stop down the shutter to exclude ambient light and calculate the flash exposure duration (usually to 1/4000 sec) .

[@FabianFoppNaturephotography]

That might work as well. I prefer to work with natural light in most cases. But as I said, you can also achieve this with a 700$ 100-400 lens or even cheaper! I thought almost every camera managed at least 1/8000. which do you have?

[@NACHALCHAIM]

@@FabianFoppNaturephotography I have an older Lumix 4/3, it only can do 1/2000. But you are right, a kit Canon EOS can do 1/4000 or 1/8000, but at that speed you would need a super bright day. My method with the strobe is easier and still much cheaper equipment. I bought a perfectly working used Vivitar 285hv on Ebay for $15 (I had one 45 years old that broke).