Sometimes you get lucky

Having arrived at my favorite spot for dragonflies a few minutes earlier, I had two cameras and a variety of lenses with me. When I noticed this guy was relatively close I wanted to take a photo but realized I was holding the wrong camera, and the right camera and lens for this shot were about fifty feet away in a bag that I'd placed on the ground. I expected the bird would be gone by the time I returned (that's normally how these things work), but the heron kindly stayed until I returned, and a minute later took off across the lake. In the past I've waited a half hour for these guys to do that, only to give up. When they have cooperated, I've taken multiple shots in quick succession only to discover I hadn't used the right settings. But sometimes you get lucky. Fortunately the camera was set on auto, with manual focus and it selected 1/4000 of a second for the shot, freezing the guy as he launched himself from the water. I got extra lucky with the focus and as the heron flew across the bay I continued to adjust my focus and got a great series of photos.

Canon SL2 DSLR, Canon 75-300mm lens (at 300mm). F/5.6, 1/4000th second, ISO 800.

GIMP