Ravens are common in my area but I rarely get interesting quality images of them for a variety of reasons. For starters their deep black plumage makes them very difficult to photograph well. And around here they also tend to be shy and devilishly uncooperative. In some areas (certain National Parks for example) they’re so tame that you almost have to shoo them out of your way to avoid stepping on them but I find them to usually be difficult to approach and uncanny in their ability to ruin a potentially interesting image by insisting on a poor light angle or flying off just before I click my shutter. I swear these intelligent birds get some joy out of doing just that.
And as in some other corvids, having a big lens aimed at them often makes them nervous.
1/2500, f/8, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon 100-400 @ 400mm, 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
I photographed this Common Raven just after it took off yesterday morning as I was heading for home along the Antelope Island causeway. For me it’s unusual to get this much detail in those light-sucking blacks, especially in flight. The bird is slightly past me but I like the flight posture, fanned tail, tucked feet and even the slight hint of iridescence in the left wing.
During the past two weeks while I’ve been forced to shoot exclusively with my smaller zoom lens while my 500mm is in the shop I’ve learned an important lesson about my photography technique – in the past I’ve relied much too heavily on the big prime lens. The flexibility of the zoom and its significantly greater depth of field has allowed me to capture many images (particularly flight shots) that I know I’d have missed with the 500 – either because I’d have clipped body parts or because my depth of field was too limited. This image is just one example. The downside to using that lens is that its image quality isn’t quite up to par to that of the 500.
So yesterday I finally broke down and purchased the new version of the zoom – the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM Lens. The newer edition is improved in many ways so image quality should approach that of the 500 and I’ll still have the flexibility of the zoom. If all goes according to plan this raven image is the last bird photograph I’ll take with the older glass.
We’ll see how it goes. Now I need to get busy and sell a used lens.
Ron
I too look forward to your thoughts on the new 100-400mm. Scott Kelby got to try it out at a playoff game and thought it was pretty cool. http://scottkelby.com/2014/field-report-on-the-new-canon-100-400mm-f4-5-f5-6-usm-ii/
Great shot Ron!
Fabulous capture … beautiful wing action!!
Regarding their shyness… Ravens are always advertised to be shy and are normally spooky and intolerant of close human presence. But I have notices as of late in our national parks in Utah and Arizona that there seems to be a trend to relative tolerance of people and loud, crowded places. One example is on a recent visit to Petrified Forest N.P. a quite parking area with a mated pair in a sage bush basically in the parking lot. They allowed me to walk up quietly to within 8′ of them and photograph them as they looked around in seeming peace. They even gargled at me and maybe (?) responded to my gargling back. I have had similar up close encounters in Natural Bridges and Canyonlands in the last year or so.
Art, yes, they tend to be very tame in many National and State Parks – I believe partly because they scavenge from campsites and people feed them. I like the thought of you and a raven “gargling” at each other. Sounds like something I’d do.
Thank you for being sensitive to the issues involved with downloading images from my blog. Actually I’d prefer that it not be done for reasons that get kind of complicated to explain…
Great shot Ron. My favorite animal Corvus Corax. I will make this my all-day desktop background if you don’t mind.
I see your please do nots on the sidebar now Ron…. I would certainly quit using your image for my computer if you wish. Your watermark reminds me to visit featheredphotography more often 🙂
In my usual brain dead fashion I forgot to say how much I loved this image of the rarely cooperative raven. Thank you.
Corvids are such fiendishly intelligent birds that I have very little doubt that they are playing with you. Just for the practise – to keep their wing in so to speak…
Good luck with the new lens.
“to keep their wing in so to speak”
As I’ve said before I like the way you play with words, EC.
I have had that lens a couple of weeks now and it matches up well with the new 7D2. Great improvement over the older one.
Great to hear, Steve. Thanks for that!
I’m having difficulty wrapping my head around the concept of a “shy Raven,” though “devilishly uncooperative” sounds right. They have become kind of a plague around here, multiplying rapidly in recent years and causing a lot of trouble. I recently learned they can be long-lived (40+ years), which is causing me even more concern – imagine how much they can learn, and how much mischief they can get into, over that time!
Perhaps I’d have been better served by saying “camera shy” raven, Tim – though many of ours are shy through and through. That said, they often stick like glue to signs, etc when you drive within a few feet of them. Stop or get out of your vehicle or point a lens at them though and they usually vamoose quickly.
Loved the last sentence in your comment!
What a send off for an old friend…couldn’t get a more magnificent shot with any lense…if the patience, luck and talent that went into that shot went with the lense, I’d nuy it in a heart beat…at any price!!! Love everything about it…stem to stern…
“An old friend” is right, Patty. That’s the lens I started out with as I was learning bird photography.
Ron, Looka like a rich and luscious painting…I love those corvids too!
Thank you, Susan.
Beautiful photo, great detail. I hope you enjoy your new lens.
I hope so too, Susan. Thanks.
Ron:
A big segment of the six months was finding a place to get it repaired. In my naivety, I had purchased a gray market lens. In this case, Nikon did the repair and I’ve had no issues whatsoever with it after it was returned.
Ok, that makes me feel a little better, Dave. Thanks for explaining!
I’m with you, Ron, but not quite that quick. In a month or two, I’ll get that new 100-400 lens to replace my old version 1 of that lens. The new one has MUCH better IS and is considerably sharper. Can’t see any flaw with the thinking. Enjoy…for a long time. Can’t wait to see your shots with the new lens and hear YOUR review of it.
I tried mine out this morning (in poor light), Rich. So far so good…
Impressive shot of the Raven. Terrific detail in the blacks. What’s the status of your 500mm lens? A couple of years ago, I tripped over a log and was not able to fully protect my 500mm lens as I fell. I was without it for about 6 months and I really missed it. I have the new Nikon 80-400mm zoom and like it a lot, but don’t use it as much as I should.
It’s still in the shop, Dave – at this point I don’t know much more than that. Your “six month” story has me concerned…
We have a murder of crows that inhabits my complex. They are very intriguing birds.
Love those corvids, Arwen.
Great shot as usual. Love the view of the rounded tail that marks a Raven at a distance when the distance is too great to see other aspects of the bird.
Many of us will be looking forward to your take on your new 100-400 lens. It could mean the difference between keeping my old or buying an new!
Dick, The field mark of that tail shape has become especially important around here since Utah implemented a crow hunt recently (grrrr…). The fear is that many ravens will be shot by mistake.
I’ll let you know how the lens performs down the road.
Hi Love this photo! Great job! It looks like it could fly right into my room from the internet! We finally got my beloved snow! It will melt ,but I got a few photo’s Here in Virginia. They say more rain on the way ! Darn! Have a good day shooting!
Thanks, Hummingbird Lover. Congrats on the snow! We have a storm coming in too but there’s supposed to be very little precipitation.
Ron, I look forward to your reaction to the 100-400 Mark 2 lens and your photos. of course.
Rich
I’m very curious about how it will go too, Richard. Always an adventure, huh?