The flying dragon

[Piotr Shpakowski]

Hello ,this is picture of dragonfly from Bulgaria.EOS 1D mark2N Sigma 150 2,8 Makro.Manual fokus.

[Mike Moats]

Hey Piotr, a different pose than usually seen with dragons in flight, and I like it. Good details on the head.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Neat work Piotr, I also like the different angle!
These guys are so fast! Did you know that some species can reach speeds up to 40 km/hr (24.85 mph)? They use their speed not only to catch, but also to knock out their prey.

All my attempts at framing dragonflies in flight so far were complete failures. Either a speed blur or completely out of focus, let alone nicely exposed like your picture here.
What's your strategy to pull this off?

Jerry,

[Ed Vatza]

What's your strategy to pull this off?

Jerry,

This was exactly my question as I looked at this image. I am just amazed at your ability to capture this dragonfly in-flight and at this close proximity with a 150mm (I know that lens; I own one), and do it this well. Yes, the right wing is slightly out of focus. But who cares. Excellent job.

[Piotr Shpakowski]

This dragon fly against to me.Manually i try to get ahead of.Continuose mode. I lose more of 1500 frames before success.

[Julie Kenward]

Fantastic! I can't believe you caught this so clearly. What timing!

[Mike Milicia]

Your persistence definitely paid off !
Congrats !

[Amy DeStefanis]

Wow - that's great. Last weekend kayaking on the river, I tried to do this several times.

The dragon flies and butterflies would fly right along beside my kayak, and as soon as I had a chance to get one in focus, they flew away.

Good Job. Congratulations on a great shot.

Amy D.

[Joanna Trescott]

Great shot -- what patience you have!

[Kaushik Balakumar]

Oh my god. Fantastic. Flight shot of a tiny dragonfly & that too manually focused. AND with just the 150mm focal length lens. Its an excellent image. I've tried many dragonfly flight shots but have not got sharp ones at all.