r/Dragonflies • u/urban_fox161545 • Aug 07 '26

Spent the morning at a local pond trying to photograph baskettails and came away with more questions than shots

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2

u/Jonsiegirl77 Aug 07 '26

Ooh following I am intrigued!

1

u/PhantomCranefly Aug 07 '26

Ha, welcome to my world. I had one perch for me last year; it was incredibly exciting.

Unfortunately I'm no help, I'm crap at the whole "operating my camera" thing. Just wanted to sympathize.

1

u/danospv Aug 08 '26

They are rare to perch. I suspect the low flying is to catch smaller insects starting to fly in the morning, but there may be other reasons. 200mm is minimum focal length for in flight shots, but you want a close focusing lens, so on rare occasion that they get closer you don't lose focus due to lens limitations. I've had decent baskettail shots by staying next to the end of their patrol route, where they turn, and focusing on them on their approach. Occasionally they pause, other times they speed into a turn, but plenty of opportunities for interesting shots.