Sometimes conditions are marginal at best for avian photography and that often seems to be the case for me when I’m presented with an otherwise wonderful opportunity. Then the decision must be made – go ahead and shoot anyway, knowing it’s likely that I won’t get any keepers or just pack it in and watch and enjoy the birds?
1/640, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, noise reduction to background
Such was the case with this Short-eared Owl at Montana’s rugged and remote Centennial Valley. It was an overcast day and there generally wasn’t enough light for photographing birds in flight but this male was regularly delivering voles to his family and would occasionally fly right by me as he did so. I could have removed my teleconverter to get a little more shutter speed but then the owl would be quite small in the frame so I just decided to fire away and hope for the best. Even at ISO 800 (the absolute limit for my 7D without getting too much noise) I was often getting shutter speeds of 1/500 or slower at f/5.6 – just not fast enough to get birds in flight sharp.
I got lucky with this shot. As the owl was coming in, the clouds behind me opened up slightly to allow a little more light on the bird and a shutter speed of 1/640 – just enough to get good sharpness on a relatively large and slow flying bird if your focus is well locked on to the subject. The still shaded Centennial Mountains provided a dark and moody background for the light-colored owl that I like.
No, conditions weren’t perfect but I’m still glad I kept shooting that day.
Ron
Your photos just bring me to tears, they are so wonderful. Thanks for sharing!
This is an awesome shot.
Wow! What’s this image missing? Absolutely nothing, IMO.
Too stinking cool, way to go!
beautiful!
Cool Shot Ron-excellent techs and nice dark background to set off the owl. I’d love to opportunity to experience a scene such as this let alone capture it, very nice work.
And I am really, really glad you kept shooting that day. Thanks.