In Flight
Dragon Fly In the Swamp. Taken on August 17, 2014
Dragon Fly In the Swamp. Taken on August 17, 2014
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Aug, 2014Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This past August, a friend was holding an extreme trail horse competition and asked me to be one of the photographers. This meant I would have to set up in a remote location and wait for the riders to come through one by one. My post was in a swamp (did I mention it was a super hot day?). I noticed that after each horse would go through the water, dragonflies would appear. It was so interesting. They would fly up to me and hover and stare... it seemed as though they were trying to figure out who or what I was – and then, they’d be gone. It was an incredibly fascinating experience. In between riders, I had some time and ran back to my car and changed my lens over to my Canon 70-200 2.8 L. Then, I started to try to track the dragonflies each time they appeared. I took a lot of blurry pictures before I was able to get any good ones! I have to say, it was just as exciting shooting the dragonflies as it was taking pictures of the horseback riders in the competition. I had a lot of time to do something in between riders and I couldn’t really leave my location in the swamp, so the appearance of the dragonflies was a huge opportunity!Time
As with most horse shows, this would have been taken in the afternoon, in August, right when the sun was overhead and light would be the hardest. But, because I was in the brambles, in the swamp, with a canopy of brush over top of me the light was dappled and softly filtered. I would say about 3pm.Lighting
In the hard, overhead sunlight of summer, if possible, head for the forest to soften things up. I had choices of locations of where to shoot for this competition and I chose to go where there the light would be diffused. This light ended up being the perfect lighting to capture the dragonfly.Equipment
Canon T5i, which is wonderful with the touch screen. Canon 70-200mm 2.8 L lens. This was a hand held shot.Inspiration
Truthfully, it was all about just being in the right place at the right time and recognising the opportunity!! Also, trying to shoot a dragonfly “in flight†was a challenge. I loved that.Editing
I did a few very, very minor global adjustments in ACR. I increased the clarity and contrast. The majority of what was done to this picture was that I cropped and enlarged it. What you see is pretty well straight out of the camera. I have to say, that when I zoomed in, I could not believe my eyes. I had NO idea that a dragonfly even looked like this - almost like a cartoon character!!In my camera bag
I have a Canon T5i body which I quite like. It has a touch screen, which I use all of the time. My beloved Tokina 11-16mm 2.8 which is my favourite landscape lens. A Tamron 16-24mm 2.8 which is generally always on my camera. A very nice lens. I can’t say enough good things about it. I always start with the 16-24 and move to other lenses from there. Canon 70-200L 2.8 which of course, is the bomb. I use this lens for portraits, and at events, and just about everything in between. It is an amazing lens.Feedback
I belong to a photography group on FB and our leader always reminds us to “TYCEâ€. Take your camera everywhere. I always take my camera with me, and also have learned to bring all of my lenses as well. I’ve been caught a few times trying to travel light, and would often end up wishing I had brought a different lens along. Now, I have everything organised in a backpack. Including extra batteries, and memory cards (and gumboots in the trunk of the car!). You never know what or when an opportunity will present itself! But they always do!! So, it’s best to be prepared! My other advice is to take every opportunity you can to learn and get better. Thank you again for this wonderful opportunity!
