Dragonfly pictures

[footdoc66]

These were shot yesterday in strong sun using 40D with 70-300IS. They are 100% crops because the darned fly moved so quickly I couldn't zoom in on it. The shots were taken at our swim club over the "kiddie pool". The fly kept hanging out over the pool so I had time to get the camera and change lenses. Any constructive thoughts on better shots would be appreciated.
Thanks!

[toriaj]

Those are excellent, especially for a dragonfly in flight! I like #2 the most, it has the best focus on the eyes (which I know you can't really control when the dragonfly is zooming around!)

[footdoc66]

Thanks for the nice comments. It took about 30 minutes of trying to get 4 shots. Most of the time I just got air as the little devil sped off. Focus was the toughest issue. I found that both AI focus and AI servo were useless. I had to single shot focus on center point and just keep lifting and half pressing the shutter to until I found the right focus. Most of the time the fly was gone by then so I shot pics of my 4 year old in the pool. I really enjoyed looking at the results. BTW, does anyone know what this thing is??

[Rasidel Slika]

dang nice... cam/lens? exif?

[michaelb]

Not a bad first attempt at a very difficult subject - I have been thinking of trying some of these myself; your description doesn't make it sound very fun though. :D

[moxy81]

With something as active as a dragonfly, i'd suggest getting the shot when he's stationary. You may want to pick a better backdrop then some discarded bikini's though.

http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk61/moxy81/LandscapeandNature/-5682.jpg

http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk61/moxy81/LandscapeandNature/-5677.jpg

[footdoc66]

Delobbo, They were taken with a 40D w/ 70-300IS. I will write out the exif data for you as I was having trouble resizing the pics:
shutter speed 1/1600
F/5
160mm focal length
ISO 400
EC +0.7

MichaelB, It wasn't that bad, just frustrating. I take a lot of pics of my kids playing sports so it was good practice.

Moxy81, try telling that to the fly! My guess is that it hovers over warm water in search of mosquitos to eat.

Thanks for your interest