Personal Challenge - Southern Hawker in Flight

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John
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I set myself a challenge today to get something different with dragonflies, so I thought I would have a serious attempt at getting some decent shots of a dragon in flight. I was really looking for one of the big chasers (Broad Bodied or 4 Spot) as they tend to be slightly slower and have more predictable flight paths. All I found was some common darters which were a little too small, spend too much time on a perch/ground and several turbo Southern Hawker’s – they were definitely big enough to fit the bill, but powerful and very fast on the wing. After about 100 shots this is what I came away with…
All taken on my Tamron 180macro on my 1DMkIIN, ISO 400, around 1/400 at f5.6 – all using manual focus!!! All taken at Stover Lake, Devon.
I was really pleased with the final results, well worth trying – but seriously not easy.

1 - This was possibly my best shot of the day - there was no crop on this one!!!
8Bestx8.jpg


2 - This was when it shot past my knee, so looking down on the beast
8Topx8.jpg


3 - coming towards me - "eye to eye"
8E2Ex8.jpg


4 - another attempt head on...
8E2Ex8-2.jpg


5 - side view - about 1ft away
8Sidex8-3.jpg


6 - side variation
8Sidex8-2.jpg


7 – Back End View (AHV)... But I really liked the wings on this one!
8AHVx8.jpg


8 - ... and finally, this is another no crop image – shame the tail is slightly out, but they are a big dragon..
8BigOnex8.jpg
 
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Wow superb images, I like number 3 best but as you say it is hard to get such great shots..what an achievement, really nice set.
 
Thanks for the comments, they were good fun to do, but a tad frustrating, but a really great upper body exercise!
 
Great shots - I can only imagine how tricky that was! :clap:
 
moaten said:
Superb set - how many shots did you take to get the 8 keepers ?
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the kind comments – I was doing these for about an hour, during that time I possibly managed around 100 shots of which many were totally useless. Numbers 1 and 8 are straight out the camera with no crop, I had several similar but they were the best, a couple of nose, tails, etc. I had quite a lot of side on views; the ones above have been cropped for composition. I did find as time went on my hit rate was getting better.

I was really after one of the slower fliers, possibly Broad Bodied Chaser, the only previous success I had had was this one…

2484498622_5630b14a7f_o.jpg


This was handheld with my 400 f5.6 plus 2 x converter and 1D MkII (1.3 factor) – so the equivalent lens length was 1,040mm - not sure if it should be classed as a macro shot???
 
Really good shooting and I admire your persistence in getting these.

It's one of my goals to get a drgon in flight aswell but I think I may have to wait till the migrant hawkers appear as they tend to hover for a bit longer in predictable places when moving round their territory.
 
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