seen from Australia
seen from Argentina
seen from China
seen from Bangladesh
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from China
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Ireland
seen from Ireland
seen from Iraq
seen from United States
seen from Australia
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from Australia
seen from Germany
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from China
And here we see the importance of maintaining a sufficiently fast shutter speed. I probably needed to be at 1/1600 or 1/2000th. At 1/1000th of a second, you can see that the wingtips of this Little Raven are blurred, somewhat spoiling what would otherwise be a spectacular shot. Oh, and the head thing.
I find it useful to remind myself at times that the bird is generally indifferent to my presence and certainly has no interest in making my chosen task of making an attractive picture any easier.If it cared, it would offer some sort of pre-emptive gesture or would telegraph its projected leap more clearly, and I would be prepared. Possibly these helpful gestures exist and are visible to the trained eye. If so, I neglected them in this case.
So often in bird photography, the main problem is getting close enough to your chosen subject to get a decent shot. With some birds, such as the humble seagull, getting close is not difficult. In fact, getting too close becomes a real possibility.
It’s a truism of bird photography that your lens is never long enough. Sounds a bit sad phrased like that, but there you are. Today I was in the fortunate position of being able to get very close to this Egret as it stood quietly preening. I was expecting it to take off and made a mental note to quickly zoom out to catch the full glory of the launch. Sadly, as is often the case, I wasn’t able to react as quickly as I’d like. Here is the result, uncropped, of a slow reaction time. It wasn’t that my lens wasn’t long enough, it was what I was doing with it ( or not doing with it) that was the problem.
Shorebirds or Waders offer a particularly dynamic action when they shoot out their head to snatch up some tasty aquatic morsel. A well timed snap of the shutter and you are rewarded with possibly a splash, maybe even capturing the struggling prey trapped in the beak. Alternatively, you can time things so that the money shot happens behind a rock. It’s not just where you point the camera, it’s where you stand that makes the difference between a great shot and this. As a bonus, it’s often noted that a good photographer is acutely aware of their frame, of the border which they place around their chosen subject. Keen eyed viewers will note that I’ve also managed to cut the head off the Egret in the background. It’s a two for one shot.
There is a degree of predictability about a cormorant as it prepares to take off. Often, it will have a projectile poo first, then it will crouch slightly, lifting its wings in preparation for a leap. A leap forward. Obviously. Why then, didn’t I leave more room? A mystery.
I realise that the title of this blog suggests I’m only struggling with birds in the air. Nothing could be further from the truth. I find that shorebirds, waders, or any bird simply strolling around can also be a challenge for me. This gorgeous specimen is an Australasian Coot, obviously in a bit of a hurry down at Newport Lakes. I was interested in capturing the intriguing juxtaposition of the coots and swamp hens with their environment. I feel I may have partially succeeded.
