Dragons and Damsels 2026

I could never make a living as full time dragonfly and damselfly photographer.  I have neither the time nor the resources to do the travelling involved in seeking out the rarer species both in the UK and abroad.  But they're fun to photograph so every now and then I'll sit by a lake or stream where they're flying and take my shots  It's usually relaxing, sometimes frustrating, but rewarding when I capture a decent flight or behavioural shot.

So here's my pick of this summer's crop.  Taken with either the OM Systems 100-400 mm MKII or the 40-150mm +1.4x teleconverter.

Emperor dragonfly female egg laying

Blue male and green female Azure damselflies mating wheel

Broad bodied chaser male on perch

Beautiful demoiselle female at rest

Beautiful demoiselle male at rest

Common blue damselfly male

Golden ringed dragonfly

Broad bodied chaser female

Male Emperor dragonfly resting on an Astlbe

Souther Hawker male in flight

Male Common Darter

In the great scheme of things it's not a significant crop.  But, hey, it was fun.

Red Kites at Gigrin Farm

Red kite in flight

A few days away in September last year gave Maria and I the opportunity visit Gigrin Farm, near Welshpool in Wales.  The farm is a feeding station for Red Kites, Milvus milvus, a UK bird of prey that had almost disappeared.  By providing supplementary feeding to a few of the remaining kites, initially at Gigrin, and, later, other locations, the populations have increased dramatically and they are now a far more common sight away from their mid Wales stronghold.

Gigrin provides a wonderful opportunity to see these graceful birds en masse.  Feeding starts daily at 3:00pm during the summer months, on a meadow surrounded by an arc of hides.  The birds know this and they start to circle overhead up to an hour beforehand, increasing in numbers as feeding time approaches.  The sky can get crowded as feeding time approaches!

At the time my longest lens was the Olympus 70-300mm f4-5.6.  Lightweight, with a good deal of reach for its small size, I soon found it wasn't really fast enough to acquire focus on these circling birds.  Out came the 40-150mm F2.8 PRO + 1.4x teleconverter and that stayed on the OM-1 throughout.  Bird detect on, of course.  I started getting better shots of individual circling birds though even here I've had to crop.

ISO 800, f4, 210mm, 1/3200 sec

Finally, at 3:00PM prompt the tractor with chopped meat arrived and distribution could begin.

It should be emphasised that these are wild birds, opportunistic scavengers by nature, and always on the look out for carrion.  Gigrin farm merely provides them with some supplemental feeding.  In return they provide a spectacle.

On cue, the first birds swoop down to grab a morsel, rapidly followed by a constant stream as more and more flock in to feed, individual birds jostling for position.

       

At times it's actually difficult to lock focus on an individual bird.  There are too many for the bird detection to settle on one and keep tracking.  But no system is perfect and I got enough good shots to have a selection.

In general the 40-150mm + 1.4x was a good choice.  The birds were close and I often didn't need the full 210mm to get a shot.  I did make one mistake.  It was raining.  Light rain but dull light and I should have taken the ISO up from my 800 setting to 1600 or more to get better sharpness for the in flight shots.  1/1250sec isn't really enough.

Examined at 100% both the above shots are lacking a little in critical sharpness around the wingtips - though still good enough to put on sale.  Every shoot is a learning experience.

A thoroughly enjoyable day for both of us and one I'd heartily recommend to even non bird watchers.  Though, hopefully, you'll have better weather and light.

 Butterfly photography again

Years back I published a post on the Canon 55-250mm EFS as a budget friendly butterfly lens on my Canon APS-C bodies.  Times have moved on, I now use Olympus/OM Systems micro 4/3 equipment, and a recent day at The Garden House when I managed to capture these male and female Orange Tip butterflies (Anthocharis cardamines) feeding on Sweet Rocket, Hesperis matronalis, reminded me of how I now use my Olympus 40-150mm f2.8 PRO and 1.4 x teleconverter as my go to combination for shooting these flying flowers.

The native lens has a minimum focusing distance of 0.7m - just over 2 ft - and a magnification at 150mm of 0.21x. By adding the 1.4x teleconverter the minimum focusing distance stays the same but the magnification increases at the now 210mm end to 0.3, allowing tighter framing.  This is the difference:

150mm on native lens

210mm on native lens + 1.4x teleconverter

Effectively I have the equivalent in full frame terms of a close focusing 100-400mm f4 zoom (actually 112-420mm if you need to quibble).  All with Olympus / OM systems PRO image quality and rugged weatherproof build.  Any compromise in image quality from adding the teleconverter is hardly noticeable.  Yes it's a little heavier than my previous Canon 80D/55-250mm combination but the results are far better.

As I've referenced in previous posts, the combination on the OM-1 it also effectively supports hand held focus stacking.  So a five image stack with a compliant subject such as this Green-veined white butterfly (Pieris napi) provides me with both greater depth of field on the subject and even better background blur and separation than the f9 aperture I was using for the previous shots.

The full image, slightly cropped

100% crop of the butterfly head

In the field this combination of relatively light weight, great stabilisation with the Olympus/OM System IBIS, close focusing to throw more pixels on the subject while keeping a good working distance, handheld stacking and excellent image quality means that I have far more flexibility when pursuing butterflies in their habitat.  As demonstrated by these few shots from previous years

Brimstone

Green veined white in flight

Meadow brown feeding on yarrow

So, a combination that's yielding excellent results in a compact and relatively lightweight package, and, just as importantly, within my budget.  Yes I might lust after the new 50-200mm f2.8 PRO but that's way beyond what I can earn from my image sales - and that sets the budget.

 

OM System 100-400mm MK II - some lessons learned

I mentioned in my recent post that I'd acquired the Mk II iteration of the OM 100-400mm for it's sync IS.  I also mentioned that I hadn't had that much chance to use it to it's full potential due to the weather being pretty rubbish.  It's still early days but now I've had a better opportunity. with sunny conditions, a visit to Lopwell Dam, where the tidal waters of the Tamar meets the fresh water of the River Tavy, and a couple of hours spare to try some bird photography.  Missing was a great variety of birds but there were a few around.  And a few lessons were learned.

Lesson 1:  Working with 400mm

I was working from the bank and these Canada Geese were on a low tide island about 50 metres away.  Hand holding with both arms supported on a fence rail gave me reasonably sharp shot at ISO 800, 1/1250 sec, f6.3 (wide open).  I've cropped in a little but not excessively.  Examined closely I'd have been better upping the ISO to 1600 to give a slightly sharper - less motion blur - shot at 1/2500 sec.  No wonder other photographers routinely use higher ISOs to keep the speed up, albeit with an increase in noise..

Another part of the flock were on the water, a little closer, allowing me to get some reflection images.  Same settings as before but the goose was larger in the frame giving a little more detail on the feathers.

Again, I've cropped a little to give a better framed image.

The lessons learned?  Even for big birds 400mm on a wide estuary is only just enough reach unless they come close.  Without the camouflage of a hide, most don't.  And 1/1250 sec shutter speed is barely enough.  Take a hit with higher ISOs and noisier images to sharpen the shots.

Lesson 2: Lets try the 1.4x teleconverter

Want more reach?  Add a teleconverter.  As I only own the Olympus 1.4x that was my only choice. 400mm became 560mm; hence more pixels on the birds. That's the upside.  The downside is that that I'm down to f9 wide open, f10 for preference to allow for the slight reduction in wide open image quality from the extra glass.  That means higher ISO to keep shutter speeds up.  Is it worth it to get capture images where more distant birds appear larger in the frame?

Yes.

I'd added the teleconverter when, on the distant bank opposite, a cormorant landed to dry it's wings.  ISO up to 1/1250, f10, 1/1600 sec and shot taken.  I'd popped the camera on a tripod for this as I'd previously found that adding the 1.4x was a bit much for my shaky handholding.  Here's the result:

Lessons learned?  The 1.4x works - but it has a cost, particularly on a slow lens such as the 100-400mm.  With modern noise reduction (more on this in a separate post later) it's worth the risk but there's always that downside.  

Although it can work very well...

Lesson 3:  Try baiting

As photographers do, we chat.  By chance I met up with a more experienced bird shooter and after some conversation he suggested trying a bit of baiting on a fence rail by the estuary bank.  He had some seed, put it out, and within a minute I had a Dunnock landing for a feed.

Then a male chaffinch.

Followed in quick succession by a cock pheasant who'd sauntered down the road in greedy anticipation.

I still had the 1.4x teleconverter on so I had to go to ISO 1600.  Even that was marginal for the Dunnock at 1/320 sec though the detail is certainly there.  As for the pheasant it's not hard to imagine the delight when their flamboyance was first introduced to the UK.

Lessons learned?  Baiting works if done regularly.  The spot these final two shots were taken is regularly baited by other birders.  I'll be joining their number and carry seed with me next time I'm at Lopwell.  Secondly, although I didn't need the 1.4x - straight 400mm would have been enough - it actually held up very well at closer range.

A satisfying day,

Photographing birds with the Olympus 40-150mm f2.8 Pro - Part 2

In Part 1 of this pair of posts I looked at my - rather inadequate - efforts photographing birds with the Olympus 40-150mm f2.8 Pro lens.  Even with the 1.4x teleconverter attached to give an effective 420mm f4 (ff equivelent) it's hardly long enough for any birds in the wild that are neither large nor accustomed to humans.  Yes, I can crop, quite heavily in some cases, and still retain a small but useable at web size file, but that's hardly adequate for my needs.

For example, the little wren above was singing his heart out on a telephone wire at the end of my garden when I crept out and captured him at 210mm, f5, 1/4000sec.  The image is fairly sharp and detailed but, to get good framing I had to crop down to 3.6Mpx from the original 20Mpx, way below Alamy upload requirements.  Put simply, I didn't have enough pixels on the subject, even at 420mm equivelent.

There are three solutions to the problem:  

• Firstly, buy a longer M43 telephoto to give me more reach and a larger subject in the viewfinder.  Even sticking to Olympus lenses there are 4 options: the 150 - 400mm f4.5 (very expensive), the 300mm f4 (expensive), the 100 - 400mm (not as good as the previous two and still quite expensive), or the cheaper 70-300mm - but that's not really good enough at the the long end.
• Secondly, use an adapted lens.  When I switched to M43 I bought a Viltrox Canon EF to M43 adapter to try my 70-300 f4-5.6 L lens to get me out to 600mm ff equivelent.  It had a fair bit of reach but the autofocus was way too slow to be of use for anything other than static subjects.
• Thirdly, lure the birds to the photographer rather than go hunting them.  In other words, feed them and/or provide bathing and nesting facilities. Definitely the cheapest solution but you are limited to what visits in your locality.

Given my budget limitations it came down to Solution 3.

With feeders and bird baths in both front and rear gardens, all visible from our windows, it's been fascinating to watch the birds come and go.  Yes, I'm generally shooting through glass but that's nothing a little post processing in Lightroom won't fix.  Here's some results:

Male blackbird on a bird bath

Great tit on a feeder

Robin in flight to a feeder

Sparrows on our improvised bird bath

Starling on a feeder support

It's well away from my usual plant and garden photography but it's fun and occupies a few hours.  I'm even thinking of getting a hide so I can get even closer and without window glass in the way.  Meanwhile, I've seen blue tits investigating our nest boxes.  Pro capture opportunities for 2024, perhaps.

Photographing birds with the Olympus 40-150mm f2.8 Pro - Part 1

I am not a bird photographer.  To be honest I've never been that interested in them and I've never had the budget to afford the long, fast telephoto lenses required to do the job properly.  But, like any wildlife / nature photographer I'll take the opportunity to get a shot should chance permit.

Stover Park, near Newton Abbot in Devon, is a 114 acre nature reserve centred around a large lake that attracts large numbers of migratory birds in winter,  Because there is a flat road running round the lake it's ideal for Maria's mobility scooter and we can enjoy a day out together.

Now the Olympus 40-150mm f2.8, even with the 1.4x teleconverter fitted, is not, by birding standards, a long lens.  420mm ff equivelent, though great for picking out flower details at the back of borders or capturing butterflies feeding without spooking them, is not really long enough for small, shy birds in distant treetops.

But it's just long enough and fast enough for waterfowl aclimated to human presence.  Water fowl such as this flock of coots...

...or a red billed moorhen.

Of course, bigger birds are even easier, as exemplified by this mute swan juvenile enjoying a wing stretch.

But all too often the bird is just a dot in the viewfinder and even the sharpness of the lens isn't enough to produce useable images.

But there are circumstances when even shy birds will tolerate human closeness.  During my regular days at The Garden House I'm often followed around by one of the resident robins.  They're quite happy to get close and even pose.

Of course, they're looking for food, hoping the human will turn up a tasty morsel at ground level. It's what gardeners do, after all.  Mind you, the need to search for food can certainly overcome caution, as with this song thrush hunting for snails amidst a hard early winter freeze.

Hopefully it found something worthwhile.

Regular feeding, as anyone who's put up feeders or bird tables knows, will always attract birds and some of my better shots have been taken on the feeders in my own back garden.  But that's the subject for my next post...