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Dragonflies and damselflies are great photo objects. They are almost as colorful as butterflies. There's a lot of different species with lots of variation. And you can make it as easy or as hard as you want: some species perch every second, while others are almost exclusively found flying around far above your head and just never seem to perch.

In this chapter, I want to provide some tips for people who also want to photograph odonata. Not everything might prove useful to everyone, but I leave it to you to extract useful information, as different people have different needs and possibilities.

In order to make good pictures of dragonflies and damselflies, the basic need is a SLR (Single Lens Reflex) camera system. I don't know about the experience of others with this subject, but I will tell about my own equipment and the ways I use it. Here's a list of the equipment I use:

Camera equipment

Camera body:	Canon EOS 1000 FN
Lenses:	Canon EF 35-80 mm (filter size 52 mm)
	Sigma DL Zoom 75-300 mm (filter size 55 mm)
	Soligor Macro 100 mm   (filter size 49 mm)
Flash:	Metz Mecablitz 40MZ2
Tripod

Part of the equipment is also the film used. Basic dilemma is whether to use slide film or color negative film. Until halfway of the summer of 1998 I used to use color negative film: Kodak Gold, 100 or 200 iso, mostly 36 exp. Since then, I switched to using slide films (Fuji Velvia, 200 iso, 36 exp.) What's the big deal? Both film types have pros and contras. Some pros of both film types are stated in following table:

Talking about wasting film: don't hesitate to do. My experience is that many times, the exact result of taking a picture is not predictable. Many pictures turn out to be slightly different (some unsharp, others a bit too light, etc.) than I predicted them to be. Lots of pictures I make end up being trash. It doesn't make my hobby any cheaper, but I don't change my habit of making small series of pictures of the same odonate, as it wouldn't be satisfactory. In Nepal I did change that habit for once: I decided to make only one picture of every new species I saw. After the holiday had ended, I regretted this decision, as I had some unsharp pictures of some species (Neurobasis chinensis, see Picture gallery) without having a sharp one as well.

Tactics are just as important as equipment. Equipment allows you to make pictures but not if you don't succeed to get close enough to the subject. Dragonflies and damselflies are easily scared off if you run after them, so patience is a basic need. There are a few different ways to make pictures of odonata:

1. Take pictures from the dragonfly or damselfly when it's in your hand. This implies catching. This method is not satisfying if you want beautiful nature pictures but is the easiest way to make pictures on which all distinguishing features of a species are visible, for instance if you need to prove you saw a rare species. Mostly, side and top view are enough for proving, but some species also feature distinguishing spots on their belly, while related species lack these. In that case, a bottom view picture can prove useful.
2. Stun your object and put it on a rock or plant before you take pictures. This method implies catching as well, but offers you the opportunity to photograph odonata in their natural habitat in a relative easy way. Unfortunately, most pictures will look quite unnatural as stunned dragonflies don't tend to perch in a natural position. There are a few ways to stun dragonflies. Just always keep in mind making pictures isn't worth damaging the animals!!!
• Carefully fold the wings backwards till they meet each other above their back. Then put them carefully between the pages of a book. ONLY THE WINGS!!! Make sure the wings are flat! Close the book and press tightly. This way, you press the blood out of the wing veins and the dragonfly needs to pump blood back into them before it's able to fly. Sometimes, this takes a few minutes and you have the opportunity to take pictures. This method works especially for large species. Small species, like Sympetrums and most damselflies, usually fly away immediately. This method doesn't work for them! Don't think: "I can do without the book. I use my fingers", as your fingers are stickier and rougher than you think and the wings will damage. Again, this method doesn't provide really great pictures, as the dragonflies don't tend to perch in a natural position when you put them on a rock or plant. Mostly, they will keep their wings a little upward, in a V. Especially cordulids do that. Don't use this method for very young individuals, for their wings will damage!!!
• Dip the thorax and head of the odonate in cool, fresh water for about 20 seconds. This will cool down the flight muscles and the odonate will have to wait until they are warm before it's able to fly again. That's no problem on a warm day, in fact it's only a matter of minutes. The insects won't drown, so don't worry. (Female damsels can stay under water for over ten minutes when ovipositing.) Shake the water off the animal, then put it on a rock or plant. Wait until enough water has evaporated to not show the way you stunned it, then take pictures. This seems to be a harmless way to stun dragons and damsels and it enables one to make some great pictures, especially of species that aren't usually found perching.
• Put the animal "on ice" in a cooling box for a few minutes. I don't know about the optimal duration and I don't know how fast the insects recover either. The method is based on the same principle as the method mentioned above, but without the water: cool down the insect, it needs warmth to fly. I do know about the main disadvantage: some dragonflies tend to change color when they cool down. Their bright colors become dull and pale.
For all stunning methods counts: study the usual behavior of the species you want to take pictures of, because each species has an own position to perch in. Some species prefer rocks, others prefer branches. A species that prefers branches to perch on photographed on a rock looks unnatural to people who know the species. This is the main kind of mistakes made by people just getting started taking odonate pictures. It's also the main mistake I made for quite a long time. I'm still remaking pictures I made years ago, just because the unnatural position annoys me.
Here's a list of families and the position they tend to perch in:

Calopterygidae	horizontally on vegetation, mostly above water
Lestidae	mostly in an angle of about 45 degrees of a vertical plant stem, wings halfway spread. Sympecma spp: horizontally on dead wood.
Coenagrionidae	horizontally hanging from vertical plants (grass, reed, etc.)
Platycnemidae	horizontally on plants
Aeshnidae	hanging down vertically from tree stems and branches
Gomphidae	perch horizontally on rocks or (mostly low) branches
Cordulegastridae	vertically from plant stems
Corduliidae	vertically from plant stems, sometimes vertically in grassy areas
Libellulidae	horizontally on tops of dead branches, reed stems, etc.

After a future update, you'll be able to read more about behaviour of odonata at the Behaviour chapter.

3. And of course there's the difficult but most satisfying way: sneaking upon perching dragonflies and damselflies and take pictures as they rest. Yeah, this is top sport! If you never took pictures of dragonflies before, I think it's best to start practicing on Libellulids, for they are the most patient (and often, colorful) species. They tend to perch a lot and often return to the same place after being disturbed. If a Libellulid flies away, it's mostly just to capture a prey or to chase a male that entered it's territory. Don't move, most of the times it will return if you just wait. Odonates especially see movement. The more you move, the less chance you have to approach them. So, move as slowly as possible if you approach odonates. There is however a way to use this movement sensitive vision against them: if it's windy, you can move a little less careful, as the dragonfly is rocking back and forth and won't notice you're moving. Just try not to move when there's no wind: if you're the only thing moving, it'll notice you.

Taking pictures of larvae (or nymphs) is totally different from photographing imagos. That's of course because they are aquatic and don't behave like the colorful, darting creatures they once will be. It's difficult to make pictures of larvae that look natural. That might be the reason I haven't tried very hard (yet), I spend enough time already just hunting imagos! So, only a few tips about this topic.

1. Catch the larvae you want to take pictures of. Taking pictures of larvae in complete freedom is unpractical (if not nearly impossible), unless you use underwater photo equipment (if you've got professional stuff like that, you probably won't need any tips);
2. Put the larvae, together with some substrate, plants and water from their habitat, in a shallow bowl;
3. Study larvae before starting taking pictures to know what they naturally behave like. Undisturbed larvae might act completely different from larvae you just caught;
4. When both substrate and the larva have come to a rest, and you think the larva will make a decent picture, you can start taking pictures. Try to find an angle at which there's as little sky reflections as possible or use polaroid filters to take away reflections.
5. If the sun is shining unblocked, you might not need to flash. If you want more detail in your picture or the sun is blocked by clouds, use flash. Two flashes would be ideal, as light beneath the water surface is quite soft, but one should do, especially when using diffusement filters on the flash head. Again, take care of reflections: if the flash is reflected into the lens by the water surface, you won't see the larva at all on the picture =-)

There are many reasons to catch odonata. Some reasons include: determination of species that are hard to distinguish, getting used to the features of species, enabling photography of species that don't perch often or only out of reach, etc.
And there are also many ways to catch dragonflies. Best known is the plain old insect net.

Note that in many countries odonates are protected by law. This protection often also prohibits catching. In Germany, catching insects of whatever species is prohibited as all insects are protected there. Even owning an insect net is a violation of laws there! So always inform about laws before you go to a country you don't know. Even if there are protective laws, you might get permissions and licenses.

And of course, there's a lot of different kinds of 'plain old insect nets'. Entomology shops sell nets. Many people however make them themselves, as the nets sold at the shops are fairly expensive. Some friends of mine made nets of the frames of old badminton rackets, of which the snares were removed. This is a cheap solution. A piece of transparent white curtain can be used to make a net in the frame. The net created in this way has a very small diameter and it's difficult to catch Aeshnids with it. Therefore, I use another solution: I bought a fishing net at a store for fishing equipment and removed the net from it. Then my mother made me a new net out of transparent white curtain (with about half a millimeter square mesh) and attached it to the frame of the fishing net. This works great! The net itself can be folded together and the pole is telescopic so the whole of it is very compact when not in use. When operational, the net is triangular with sides of about 50 cm each.

Using a net is not the only way to catch dragonflies:

Buri

• In ancient Japan, people used to catch them by using a so-called 'buri'. That's a silken thread with a small pebble attached to each end. The thread is thrown into the air. Dragonflies, mistaking the pebbles for prey, get tangled in the thread and drop down to the ground. Somewhere on the internet (I can't recall where, nor could I find the site again. Anybody who knows it, please tell me!) I once found this picture of buri:

• Just use your hands. Some dragonflies, as well as many damselflies, tend to perch a lot and if you're very careful and very patient, you could grab it with your hand. Be careful, though, that you don't damage the wings as you grab.

• Marcel Wasscher reported he caught dragonflies using a bend twig which he pulled through a few spider webs. He used the twig as some kind of fly swat.

• Just pick the dragons and damsels off sundew (Drosera). On some places, you can pick them like flowers! Most of them will be dead though. And the numbers of species will be low. Mostly Sympetrum spp. and some Coenagrionidae. Of course, that's due to the fact that Drosera only lives on places where those Odonate species occur.

• Another way to pick them like flowers: go dragonfly hunting right after (or during) rain. Many Libellulid species will hide in the tall grass near lakes and ponds and you'll also find some damselflies. This method works especially well if the rain started together with a temperature drop in the middle of a day.

Some species are easy to catch, others are just near impossible. The ones that perch a lot (almost all damselflies and Libellulid dragonflies) are the easiest to catch. The hard ones are the ones that nearly ever perch and just tend to fly at treetop height or meters off shore. In between are the ones that fly a lot but not very high and the ones that perch at places difficult to reach. And there's the ones that perch a lot but fly away even if you're still 20 meters or so away from them. Those are also quite frustrating.

Basic of the tactics is: just approach the odonate until you're within reach and swing your net. It sounds that simple and most times it is. Some notes however:

• When catching a flying dragonfly, especially an Aeshnid, try to swing your net from behind the animal. This increases your chance for success, as it won't notice the net until it's too late. And it'll decrease the chance of damaging the odonate as a dragonfly that sees the net coming it's way will try to avoid being caught and might fly against the hard edge of the net.

• Take care when catching dragons or damsels near bramble or other spiny thicket, as thorns are your net's worst enemies. Nets easilly tear and a net with a hole isn't quite usable.

• Some dragonflies that fly almost constantly (Aeshna cyanea or Cordulegaster boltonii for instance) just keep flying the same route to defend their territory. If you move slowly, they'll keep on flying up and down their territory even when you're near them. Don't swing your net until you really think you can catch the dragonfly! Once you miss a dragonfly, it will often fly away fast and hide in a treetop or another place impossible to reach and you won't get a second chance.

And what to do with a caught odonate? Feel free to take a good look at it, identify it or take pictures. Then, collect it or let it go.

Catching larvae is a totally different matter. Larvae are aquatic and therefore can't be caught using an aerial net. I think the only suitable equipment to catch larvae is a small net on a long pole with a sturdy rim. Depending on the species you want to catch, you have to drag the net through mud or aquatic plants, that's why the net needs to be sturdy. In my opinion, a metal sieve, used for example to wash rice in, is ideal, as it's sturdy and the size of the mesh isn't too large or too small. How big do they have to be then? Well, there's not one way to tell, but a mesh too small will collect lots of mud and are difficult to drag through muddy bottoms and a mesh that's too large is unusable because larvae will escape. I think about half a millimeter squares is okay, like with aerial nets.
Then the tactics part. Like the adults, larvae of different species have different habitat requirements. Often, larval habitats are the same as the adult habitats of the same species, but some adult dragonflies are found mainly away from the water they were born in. So, before you go hunting, check your literature to find out where to find larvae of which species. Or don't and surprise yourself. You might even surprise other odonatologists, as much about larval habitats is still unknown.
Usually it's easiest to stand on shore and drag your net through the vegetation and over the bottom near the shore. For sandy or stony shallow rivers and streams it's easiest to just step into the water and drag your net over the bottom as you walk upstream (to keep the water in front of you clear: you might see larvae swim away from you).

Then, there's the question why one would want to catch larvae. There's a few different reasons I can think of:

1. Larvae are a proof of that species reproducing on the place you caught it. That's a purely scientific reason to catch them.
2. Catching larvae makes it possible to study dragonflies and damselflies even in winter (when there's no adult odonates in my part of the world).
3. Raising dragonflies or damselflies from larval stage is great fun to do. Especially dragonfly larvae are ferocious hunters and it's great to see them sneek upon their preys. In 1999 I raised an Aeshna juncea larva in a fish tank (without fish in it!) and watched it emerge later on. (Pictures I made of the emergence are available in the picture gallery).

Some people like collecting insects and some don't. Even though I don't collect insects myself (and don't like the whole idea!!!), I understand that there can be a need for it. (Personally, I only collected two odonates I found dead.) Some people collect for museums and some collect for their own collection. The first is okay with me, the second I don't think is necessary and therefore don't like. I see the value of scientific collections: without them, we would know almost nothing about insects as you can't describe new insect species in the field and you can't compare different individuals from one species from different places of the world without collecting either.

So I think you got the point? I'd say, if dragonfly hunting is just a hobby of yours, don't collect or only colect already dead odonates. Do with this message whatever you want. Just keep in mind that more than one population of dragonflies and damselflies disappeared as result of collecting.

As you will understand, first step in building a collection is to catch odonates. Next step is to kill them. That's the part I like least and therefore don't do. Killing insects is best done in a killing bottle, a bottle containing some toilet paper and a chemical stuff which is as far as I know called ethyle acetate. As soon as the insect is dead, you're up to step 3: prevent it from decaying. There are a few different ways to conservate the insects, all having pros and contras:

• In alcohol. Put the odonate in a (colorless transparent) glass bottle filled with alcohol (as concentrated as possible is best I think). This will keep the animal good for many years. I don't know wether colors will fade or not. Pro: this way conservates the insect well without making it brittle. Contra: dragons and damsels in alcohol aren't very esthetic.
• Pin the insect. First, dip it in acetone to dissolve fats (so the insect won't decay and start stinking). Then pin it (through the back, between the wing bases) to a piece of foam (such as styropore). Use pins to give it a position you want to keep it in. Spread the wings in flight position and fix them with pins and, for instance, elastic binders. Wait some days before you remove all pins but the one through the back. After these days, the odonate has become brittle and fixed in the position you put it in. Touch it as little as possible, as any touch might break it!

Anax imperator, pinned to a block of styropor foam

Whichever method you chose, be sure to registrate when and where you collected the odonate!!! For the alcohol method, small stickers with the name of the species, the place and date of collecting written on it should do. For the pinning method: write the name of the species, the place and the date of collecting on a piece of paper and pin it to the foam on the same pin the the odonate was pinned on.

As with collecting adults, this is a topic I don't know much about. As far as I know, best method for conservating larvae is putting them in alcohol. Use the directions above given for putting adult odonates on alcohol.
I don't know about other methods used for conservating larvae. Anyway, don't forget to registrate when and where you collected the larva!!! For this purpose, small stickers with the name of the species, the place and date of collecting written on it should do.

235 exuviae of Aeshna cyanea, collected at one small, shaded pool in the woods near Valkenswaard, The Netherlands. 118 males, 117 females.

Collecting exuviae is okay as it doesn't endanger populations and you don't have to kill animals for it. Exuviae are the empty larval cases that remain when an odonate larva changes into an adult ("emerge"). (Read more about the lifecycle at the Lifecycle chapter!) The scientific value of collected exuviae however is quite large: exuviae are a proof of reproduction of the species concerned at the place of collecting.
Exuviae can be found everywhere where dragonflies and damselflies emerged. As long as European species are concerned, all odonate larvae live in water and the emergence always take place in the direct vicinity of the water the larva lived in. Some species just climb out of the water and emerge as soon as they are on a dry spot, others crawl meters before they emerge. So, collecting exuviae is just a matter of looking on the right place on the right time. Right after heavy rain you won't find many exuviae, as the rain sweeps them away. On the first day of good weather after a long bad period, lots of odonates emerge. That's a good moment to look for exuviae.
Then, if you find exuviae, what should you do with them? Well, first you should find out what species it belongs to. There's key available for most parts of the world. But identifying exuviae (and young larvae as well, for that matter) is difficult, often demanding use of a microscope to distinguish features. If you've got problems identifying exuviae, send them to specialists (which I'm not). Exuviae are usually easilly stored in the empty plastic boxes in which photo and slide films are sold. If you do know what species it is, enclose a piece of paper with the name written on it. Whether you know the name or not, also always enclose the date and place of collecting.