Dragonfly Series II - airborne

Same time, same place, same equipment.

Used the knowledge and experience grained from my original in-flight attempt to practice here.

As I stated in Series I, the "green ones" follow a more repetitive (more or less :p ) flight plan than the "black ones". Still, the green ones and the black ones would get into it so it was never dull.

One word................... Awsome :)

haha that last one makes me think of an airplane. nice bg's too, and nice framing.

Very good, do you prefocus on somethign at about the right distance?
They look too small in the frame to cover them with an AF point and get focus lock.

Knight, thanks! Hope not to bore everyone but I was pretty excited to get these results and wanted to share and offer any helpful tips.

Brent, yeah the eyes and head on the last one reminds me of the helmet used by pilots in the military.

Paul, I have never been ecstatic about the AF of the 10D - especially out in the field. To sharpen my skills, lately I've been shooting everything manual including focusing. For me, it works better for these and flying birds as well. I track them with the non-shooting eye while constantly adjusting focus. When focus is achieved (only momentarily), I release the shutter. I find that now I can focus-follow a 'fly coming/going directly at/away from me pretty good. But it doesn't take much for them to veer out of the frame :D I got a bunch more of them farther away - the hard part is getting them when they are close (these are all about 75% ~ 85% of full frame).

The "green ones" are easier because I can simply leave the lens at 400mm (200mm x 2) so I just need to adjust focus. The "black ones" require simultaneous zoom adjustment since they come much closer.

Oh, another tip: It's a lot easier to locate one by looking for their dark reflection on the water. Otherwise, looking for them directly is tough at times as they can get lost against the background.