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Flight of the Emperor II


Flight of the Emperor II
Photo Information
Copyright: Paul Prince (PDP) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2964 W: 366 N: 3848] (11751)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2005-07-16
Categories: Insects
Camera: Canon EOS 20D, Sigma 50-500mm f/4-6.3 EX APO RF, Digital ISO 400, Hoya skylight (1B)
Exposure: f/7.1, 1/2000 seconds
Details: (Fill) Flash: Yes
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Theme(s): Dragonflies in flight [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2005-07-18 6:49
Viewed: 1452
Favorites: 4 [view]
Points: 82
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
This is my second post of a male Emperor Dragonfly (Anax imperator) in-flight. I like this one a lot better than the previous offering.

This is a male, and again I shot him patrolling his patch. Males are at their peak activity around noon but they are also known to show crepuscular phases of activity at dawn and twilight. Males will perch during the hottest part of the day, although it's better described as hanging than perching. This male will patrol and defend his territory, he is able to see off most species with the exception of the Southern Hawker (Aeshna cyanea).

The average liftime of a male is around 4 weeks and a maximum lifetime is probably around 8 weeks.

If you are interested in trying to shoot Dragonflies then I can let you know as I much as I do (using my 50-500 mm lens).

First find one! Then watch it. You will see where it patrols and some time spent observing can show you where it likes to perch and hover and the edges of it’s range. Pick a spot (preferably where you can sit down – you’ll be there a while) and set you camera up. Also think about the BG, if there are plants etc close behind the dragon it will be diffucult to focus. Set the camera in shutter priority – to get the fastest shutter speed for the conditions (I often use flash at slightly reduced power, about -1/3). Set the camera to focus in the centre of the image in AI Servo mode. Next, watch the dragonfly through the viewfinder by panning (at 50 mm), a tripod is not good for this unless you have an expensive Wimberley type head. When the Dragon pauses or hovers get it the the centre of the viewfinder and half press the shutter button, when the focus looks good, zoom in with the lens (holding the shutter button for continued focus) then press the shutter. Warning: You need patience to do this.


I hope you like him.


Paul
chiliu, carper, mviktor, Lyanna, thistle, lglandon, odin, elihesam, dew77, Fisher, AdrianW, phlr, red45, bedford67, Comandante, marhowie, christophe, wallhalla15, JeanMichel, correp01, Robbrown, chouette, netfalls, coasties, livios, Luc, Marche, deud, milloup, wideload, hummingbird24, Aramok has marked this note useful
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Critiques [Translate]

  • Great 
  • chiliu Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1549 W: 0 N: 1158] (6414)
  • [2005-07-18 6:56]
  • [2]

Fantastic picture, Paul!
Perfect composition, excellent background, great colour.
SUPERB!
TFS!

  • Great 
  • carper Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2167 W: 124 N: 2567] (8208)
  • [2005-07-18 7:04]
  • [2]

he is fantastic Paul,
very good capture in flight, I have never try it. Maybe I try it. Paul have you seen my red eye damselfly tandem, complete with eggs. I have never seen this before. I am impressed of it.
gr. Jaap

Fantastic. Thanks for sharing, and for explanation how to do this.

Waouh !!!!!!!!!
Superb shot, very sharp
I love it
TFS, Laurent

Hi Paul!
Absolutely amazing! I envy you this photos in flight! This is incredibile!

Wohhh!
He is coming very fast and will pass from my monitor...:)
Excellent freezing you did,indeed it a difficult capturing that you skilfully did,Nicely done,Paul!
very well composed,in a great place of the frame he freezed,Excellent quality and sharpness I see here and ...I enjoy it very much.
Best to You
M

  • Great 
  • dew77 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 5171 W: 297 N: 4050] (13069)
  • [2005-07-18 8:26]
  • [2]

Hello Paul!
Excellent in flight capture.Details,POV and sharpness are amazing.TFS...:-)

  • Great 
  • Fisher Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1540 W: 309 N: 2234] (8915)
  • [2005-07-18 8:28]
  • [2]

Excellent work, Paul.
Well done on this capture and excellent composition.

Mike

A truly awsome feat to capture this in such detail. I did not realise the male had such a short life, thanks for the info.

Hi Paul, wonderful shot, perfect timing. And damsels are very beautiful and colourful objects.

Very good shot, Paul! You've captured the Emperor nicely. Interesting to read your technique too - mine's roughly the same, except I don't have a long zoom so I have to track at full focal length... I still find it fascinating the way they fold their legs up in flight - although I suppose it makes sense from an aerodynamic POV. Focus is spot on, DOF is good too. Composition I'm slightly uncertain about, but then I'm always somewhat undecided about how to handle "object disconnected from the background" type shots... Very well captured :-D

  • Great 
  • phlr Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1277 W: 133 N: 862] (2772)
  • [2005-07-18 9:54]

How is it possible to get a dragonfly in flight? But you did it!
You must hae a GREAT camera and "fingers" to deal with!
5* photo!

  • Great 
  • red45 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2801 W: 75 N: 7845] (26257)
  • [2005-07-18 9:59]

Perfect Paul!
Right man with right camera in right time! Amazing quality and moment.
BTW - big thanks for ID my dragonfly!

Hi Paul,
Superb catch in full flight! I like this photograph for his contrast and his colors returned really well.
TFS, cordially,
Jean-Patrick

Hello Paul!
Magnificent macro.Details,sharpness,POV and composition are great.Thanks for sharing.

Superbe photo Paul !
Très bien capturé cet instant de vol.
Nico.

Hi Paul
Sharpness: 5/5
Color: 5/5
DOF: 5/5
POV: 5/5
excellent shot
TFS
In a friendly way Christophe

Hey Paul - you are lucky. What a fantastic picture. Excellent colours, light and sharpness. Thanks.

Wonderful work, Paul, and congratulations for your patience. It was worth it. Your note is self-explanatory and it seems workable. Thanks for that too. On top of the obvious performance here, I'd like to mention how attractive the light is, with a little spark in the eye, contributing to isolate the very sharp subject in the middle of nowhere. BRILLIANT!

Great capture Paul.
And great explanation. Very useful. Thanks.
The focus of 50 500 is fast enough !

Thank you for posting the detail of how to do it, it will prove useful to others here I think, I do not think you can under estimate the amount of patience needed along with the ability to observe the behavior of the subject. I have tried and got results by using maximum zoom speed priority speed 1000th (fastest the camera can do) prefocus on some thing the right distance half hold the button and pan till it reaches the point of focus and click, this is a real suck it and see method but it can get results.
The image is good again clear and well seen, the crop works for me plenty of room for it to fly into. Nice one TFS

Great capture again! This is amazing! Colors and sharpness are great. Very useful technical notes. Thanks for sharing.
Helene

  • Great 
  • honza Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 546 W: 0 N: 680] (4047)
  • [2005-07-19 1:11]

Fantastic shot Paul. Perfect focus and colors. I tried make photo of flying emperor too, but without good result. TFS

Hi Paul

Another outstanding shot from you. The Dragonfly stands out realy nicely against the OOF BG. The colours of the Dragonfly are quite spectacular. Excellent Paul. Thanks.

Great shot and technique Paul. Excellent light, colors and details..Thanx for the tips! Well done.

  • Great 
  • sAner Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1654 W: 79 N: 1456] (4742)
  • [2005-07-19 6:32]

Great shot Paul! The BG suits this photo amazingly well and the details are razorharp. Well composed, good POV & DOF. Well done & TFS!

Regards,
Pieter

I'll have to buy a better camera to shot the Emperor at last, but thanks for useful note.
As for the photo.
It is, of course, perfect ;-)
I like it very much.
VERY WELL DONE

  • Great 
  • livios Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2306 W: 324 N: 4306] (16850)
  • [2005-07-19 8:00]

Paul, I'll save your note, for when I have my 20D I'll try to practice them.

No doubt this is really an excellent shot.

Great composition, sharpness and pov. Excellent bg.

Congratulations on your effort and patience.

  • Great 
  • VeTTe Gold Star Critiquer [C: 162 W: 0 N: 0] (684)
  • [2005-07-19 8:53]

wonderful shot!
colors,sharpne and background is very good

TFS!

Hi Paul. To capture a flying insect like this is so amazing--and to have done it so well (excellent composition, point of view and depth of field) is even more amazing. Keep showing us these wonders!

  • Great 
  • Luc Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2058 W: 316 N: 4403] (14711)
  • [2005-07-19 23:19]

Hi Paul!
Personal assessment of the photo: excellent. Now you are ready for a butterfly in flight ;-)
Strong visual impact.
Aptness of the photo for the site: excellent.
Personal assessment of the note: complete.
TFS.

Bonjour Paul,
Extraordinaire vol. Photo très difficile et superbement nette, j'admire.
Amicalement
Martine

  • Great 
  • deud Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 491 W: 2 N: 459] (2079)
  • [2005-07-20 5:18]

great! and great lesson for amateurs like me! thanks.

Great flight-in, Paul.
I have missed it until now;-(
You have caught it with great sharpness, it's not easy I know.
Well composed, nice colours and great PV and BG.
Excellent work, my friend.

Wow! Great shot. I read your instructions with great interest. I must try that technique sometime. I like the sharpness and the details of this hovering insect. Well done. Great shot as always.

Nice job on this chap, sharp and clean, good colours and POV.
I can see you go about this much more scientifically than I do ;-) I haven't managed to catch any with my 500mm yet (mainly because we haven't seen that many as yet this year), but with the 300mm I generally use manual focus because my AF isn't fast enough to follow one around - and much more likely to zoom onto some part of the background instead..

A cracking capture Paul.
Thanks for sharing your technique also.

  • Great 
  • foton Silver Star Critiquer/Silver Note Writer [C: 19 W: 1 N: 14] (418)
  • [2005-07-27 2:28]
  • [2]

perfect photo, congratulations

  • Great 
  • royrak (60)
  • [2005-07-31 18:05]

Wow!, awesome photo, good work.

Incredible shot, Paul!!!!!

I will try this as soon as I can. I have noticed these guys in my area, but am without the 20D for a while.

Excellent POV, details are awesome, colors are great and lighting is right on.

Thank you for inspiring me in another direction, and for sharing this wonderful photo!

One word to describe this one: SUPERB!
Sarolta

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