As a photographer I try to learn from my images and this one has me wondering…
1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, canvas added for composition, not baited, set up or called in
I photographed this Black-billed Magpie three days ago on Antelope Island as it took off from a tree in one of the campgrounds. As I studied the image I was somewhat surprised by the fact that both wingtips are quite sharp despite the relatively large distance between them. Since the head and body are sharp, at these settings I expected at least one wingtip to be noticeably soft. When that has happened in the past in a similar situation I’ve usually blamed it on a lack of depth of field if my shutter speed is about 1/1600 or faster.
But obviously I had enough DOF to get both wingtips sharp here so perhaps there’s another culprit and the apparent alternate suspect is shutter speed. Movement is fastest the closer you get to the tips of the wings and for this image I’d used a faster shutter speed (1/3200 sec) than I usually do for magpies in flight. So maybe, just maybe, I often have more DOF than I think I do and magpie wingtips travel faster than I thought they did.
At this point I’ve drawn no final conclusions – there are other variables involved, including (but not limited to) distance from subject, so I need to experiment further and I will. But this photo does have me wondering…
Regarding the image itself, I do like most things about it including the flight posture, the iridescence on the wing, the clean background, the curved and curled tips of the left wing primaries, the detail in most (though not all) of the blacks and the overall sharpness of the bird.
What I don’t like is the stick up its butt!
Ron
I have seen many loud political “birds” involved in flights of fancy who act, remarkably, like someone has photographed them in a similar “totally out on a limb” kind of way. Magpies all. Yours is just more authentic, sincere, and yours doesn’t sport “comb overs”. I like that in a bird. However, if you are going to talk about “left wing primaries” in Utah, you should be prepared to run while someone else “shoots”
“if you are going to talk about “left wing primaries” in Utah, you should be prepared to run while someone else “shoots”
I totally missed that opportunity for poking some fun at our local politics, Suzanne. Not like me because I have some pretty strong opinions about it but you spotted it, ran with it and I enjoyed the hell out of it.
Well done!
This entire thread of comments had me chuckling. thanks, all!
I agree, Arwen – thanks to all. That was fun.
I actually chuckled out loud at your last line! I always enjoy your photographs.
Chuckles are always a good thing. Thanks, Kathryn.
Ron–I just revisited that shot (I love the different iridescence–green, bronze,etc,)…did you notice how much the sticks look like a boney-fingered hand—either reaching for the bird or releasing it??? ( Never mind where you think the forefinger is headed!)
I love what your eyes see, Patty. No wonder the bird looks like it’s in a bit of a panic to get away from that hand. Thanks for a good laugh.
You’re right, Patty. It does…
Actually, I think it might be the middle finger…..
<> This is a photo on which I would seriously consider surgery: amputate just a bit of that stick! LOL
Surgery is the only solution, Jane. Not a good solution but the only one available I’m afraid.
Snickering (loudly) as I read the comments.
And yes, that stick does look (at first glance) to be up the birds fundament… Which would curl my talons.
Sometimes the comments steal the show, don’t they, EC!
Sent shot Ron!
Thanks, Charlotte.
I agree with Jo Ann, you and Patty are something else – I still can’t stop laughing. For that matter I can’t look at the Magpie without laughing!
Ron! I ‘m surprised at you! An advanced Biology teacher! That stick is at the wrong angle to be “up its butt”…recheck your bird anatomy books…if you’ll visually complete “unfinished line” of that stick, you’ll see that’s impossible. Other than that, it’s another beautiful image, and as you say, the left wing primaries’s curl is really nice….
It’s close enough for me that it’s all I can think about when I see the image, Patty!
Well, that and the DOF/SS issue…
Thanks to my good friend and AMAZING artist, Katie Lee teaching me to “see”, I don’t have that problem…butt, if you want that stick to go up that poor bird’s behind, you’ll have to drop the angle a few degrees,or place the bird at a more vertical angle… As it is now, the worst it could do is go up through the tail feathers just behind it’s a– h—e. (AKA anus)… 😉
Ha, my turn to call you out on your bird anatomy, Patty. Birds don’t have an anus. They have a cloacal opening 🙂
Ron and Patty – You two are hilarious!!! Just sayin’!!
OK! Butt Hole, then!!! You still can’t argie with thd angle of the opening (AKA AOTO), so there!!!!!
I can see that the evil iPad is on your side…That’s supposed to be “argue” not argie and “the” not thd….what does a dumba– iPad know about photography….this one just wants to make me look even dumber than I actually am…rots a ruck, iPad!!!
I know nothing about the Doofiss (DOF/SS) aspect…..must be some kind of Phototechie stuff…I just try to remember to take the lens cap off, focus, and press the little round button…and pray. Then I either smile or let loose a string of well-worn curse words…that’s as techy as I get…..
Ron, after the discussion the other day about carving ducks, I think that this is actually one of Dick Harlow’s carvings… ;-D Your puzzle about why the wings came out so sharp is part of why I’ve never learned manual camera settings: too complicated.
Susan, See my comment to Jo Ann below. Once again we think alike!
OK, Dick…now you know how to suspend your coming-in-for-a-landing duck-carving, just ram a stick……..
Sorry, Duck…Just realized Ron alteady suggested that, just proves great minds think alike….sometimes….damn! That was supposed to be DICK not duck…
OMG -I am laughing as I write this – the stick would be better on take off as it leaves the water……………
I sureender….
Interesting! I’m not that analytical of these things but will have to keep the SS in mind and not automatically blame DOF! Richard’s comments are interesting also. Nice shot even with the stick thing! 🙂
Judy, thinking about the technique of photography is sometimes an intellectual exercise that is hard to pin down as to cause and effect because there are so many variables. I enjoy making the attempt though…
Ron, I have fallen in love with your Magpies and hope I get to see one live and in person one day. Now as for what made me laugh this morning!! I always start your blog by looking at the photos and with this one my eye was drawn to the iridescence which is so special about the magpie. (Forgive my run-on sentence!!) Then I usually read your thoughts about the photo. The stick up the butt made me laugh out loud since I never even noticed it!! Shows that you have a much more critical eye than I have!! Can’t wait for tomorrow’s blog!!
Jo Ann, there’s two common types of bird photos that are often described as “bird on a stick (BOS)” and “bird in habitat (BIH)”. This image took the BOS philosophy just a little too far for me…
It also made me think about Dick Harlow’s comments on my Northern Shoveler post a few days ago because he was thinking about doing a wood carving of a duck similar to my image and was concerned about how he would support the bird carving in flight. A “stick up the butt” would be one (less than desirable) alternative 🙂
Ron: Your picture is beautiful! (First things first). You caught the magpie with the wings at least nearing the bottom of the wing stroke. At the bottom of the stroke two things happen: wing motion slows as the wings begin to reverse (less blur for photographers), and the wing tips are closer to the plane of the body (less depth of field needed for photographers).
But, of course, you are correct: speed is great. I have followed your lead to speed.
“You caught the magpie with the wings at least nearing the bottom of the wing stroke”
Thanks, Richard. That’s definitely true for the right wing, less so with the left. Like I said, there’s lots of variables to take into consideration and I appreciate your input on that one.
“I have followed your lead to speed”
I like the way you put that! Relatively fast SS’s for birds aren’t everyone’s cup of tea but overall I tend to prefer them. I like action/behavior shots and birds are just so darned fast!