Plus a shocking recent example of cheating in a prestigious nature photography contest.
1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 800. Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
Yesterday was our hottest day of the year so far (low 80’s) so it felt good to spend some time in the cooler mountains. Just as the sun was peeking over the mountain to my right this Cooper’s Hawk swooped in and landed on a post ridiculously close to my pickup. It was too close and in poor light but within seconds it lifted off and landed on another post in front of me. The hawk was now at a more appropriate distance from me and the light angle was much better.
It gave me very little pose variety before it took off again but I was pleased with the shots I got. Cooper’s Hawks are an unusual species for me to photograph and on those rare occasions when I do have a chance with them it’s usually in an urban setting so I loved seeing this bird in a beautiful and wild mountainous river valley (although I do wish the habitat was more apparent in my photos).
Because the hawk and the post are both oriented vertically I’m not particularly fond of this composition because there’s too much dead space in front of the bird for my tastes so…
I decided to try a vertical crop. If my readers have a preference for either version I’d appreciate knowing what it is. As usual I need all the help I can get with aesthetics.
On an unrelated note:
Readers are aware of how much disdain I have for the rampant cheating that goes on in nature photography contests which is one of the reasons I never enter them. This past week a particularly egregious example of cheating in photography contests reared its ugly head. One of the winning photos in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2017 competition has been disqualified because the photographer, Marcio Cabral, apparently used a taxidermy specimen in the image.
It’s a dramatic photograph of an anteater approaching a glowing termite mound in the middle of the night. The scene is lit by bioluminescent click beetles on the mound attempting to lure termites out to become beetle prey. But it’s been determined that the anteater is a stuffed taxidermy specimen so the image and the photographer have both been disqualified.
Here’s a link to the Natural History Museum’s web page where the photo can be viewed and the museum explains what they’ve done about the cheating and why.
This incident will tarnish the reputation of the photographer for the rest of his life. I once had a “friend” who cheated on a prestigious national nature photography contest and he won the grand prize including $5000. Not long after his cheating was discovered he moved out of state and (as far as I can tell) gave up nature photography.
The nefarious practices of all too many “nature photographers” truly revolt me for many reasons and among them is the fact that fairly or unfairly they reflect on all of us. As a retired teacher I feel the same way about teachers guilty of unethical and/or immoral relationships with their students.
It isn’t fair but that’s just the way it is.
Ron
Note: Feathered Photography is having some kind of server issue this morning which makes my blog load very slowly. We haven’t yet discovered the source of the problem but we’ll be working on it.
Update – There was a bot crawling my site but it’s now been blocked and things seem to be back to normal. I hope it continues…
I didn’t know your “friend” had be caught and that was why he moved.
Sad doings.
I’m not sure that was why he moved but the timing was interesting. But he was caught all right, after the award was given.
I prefer the vertical crop.
How about the horizontal, but crop some from the right side. I think it’s instinctively that rule of thirds thing. The space on the left becomes part of the composition instead of just space. What do you think?
It’s worth a try, Mikal. I’ll give it a shot and see what I think.
The Cooper’s colours are beyond stunning. Subtle, and glorious.
I like the vertical crop better.
And saw the story about the fame and fortune seeking oxygen thief. And sadly wasn’t surprised.
Thank you, EC.
What a beautiful bird and a great shot by you. The grays are spectacular.
I grew up to be honest and couldn’t change if I wanted to. Too bad people think they can get by and not get caught. The ex-cop in San Francisco thought he’d never get caught and now — here he is.
Thank you Ron for being honest.
I don’t know how folks can do stuff like that, Alice. I literally wouldn’t be able to sleep.
Ron, Coops regularly use our back yard bird feeders but they are so fast I do not get to see the wonderful gray. Thanks for the photo. Diana
You’re very welcome, Diana.
Speaking of “nature photography “. What kinds of editing in photoshop are considered OK ,and what kinds not? Thanks, John
John, Contests generally allow things like cropping, sharpening, exposure and tonal adjustments and removal of dust spots. Cloning elements into or out of an image is not allowed.
I have no technical skill in photography or anything else and both photos are beautiful. I prefer the vertical one because the the bird is more prominent.
I often wonder how some of the things I see in some photography is real and I really enjoy yours because I never question whether it is authentic. Keep up the great work.
“I often wonder how some of the things I see in some photography is real”
Much too often it isn’t, Betty. Thank you.
What a beauty! It’s difficult to get much time with a Cooper’s hawk because there’s always some other where they need to be, especially if they’re hunting for a good meal! So serendipity is a very good thing with these guys!
When you hold a Cooper’s hawk up close, that gray is amazing. The only way I’ve been able to express it is that there’s a quality of gray that’s beyond spectacular. It is outrageously beautiful!
As for the sleazy photographer mentioned above, the mere idea of what he did makes me want to vomit. What was that sleazeball thinking? Like Patty asked, what’s become of us? Where is personal integrity? Oh, yeah, it’s here, which is why I’m here!! And I thank you for that in so many different ways.
There’s another problem with your site and Mia’s. I used to get a confirmation request to follow each post. Now, it’s not happening for either of your blogs. Don’t know what that can be but I’m a computer Luddite!
“What was that sleazeball thinking?”
Laura, He was undoubtedly “thinking” about glory and fame, along with the cash prize. That’s a very loose definition of thinking though…
Laura I had a similar problem last year. I went to WordPress’s subscription management page and fiddled. It came good.
Our visible world is wider than it is tall so vertical crops always look like….well….vertical crops, to me. I almost always like the other version. I live in the forest so I have never seen a Coopers out in the open. The best shot I have ever gotten of one was through my bathroom window! I will leave the rest of that story for everyone’s imagination.
Ha, loved your account of your “bathroom Cooper’s”, Porcupine. And yes, I used my imagination to fill in the rest of the story!
Great photos Ron of the Cooper’s Hawk. I like the portrait version one best and I do like the smooth bokeh background, most Cooper’s Hawk images I see they are in the branches, so it is nice to see one out in the open like this.
That cheating example just blows me away, including the fact that the photographer continues to deny it.
I see lots of cheating in photography, and one reason I visit your blog as much as possible is to see great photos that I know are not faked. To see that, yes, it is possible to get great photos by doing things ethically.
Sadly, many of the photos from cheats are published and get a lot of attention. Kingfishers diving into the water, perfectly and artistically exposed are getting a lot of attention now — even though they are baited photos.
Composites is another one. I see so many landscape photos where the moon, or Milky Way, has been cut and pasted from another photo and claimed to be real.
After awhile it gets exhausting trying to call out these cheats, or point out to the public that the photo is fake…
“I see so many landscape photos where the moon, or Milky Way, has been cut and pasted from another photo and claimed to be real.”
I’ll bet that’s particularly galling to you, given how much excellent landscape photography you do ethically, Ed. I’m becoming convinced that the percentage of unethical people, across all spectrums of life, is increasing dramatically.
What’s happened to us??? A misogynist, lying, bigot is president, people who have lived here their entire lives ( and even served in our military are being deported to an unfamiliar country, a blatant cheat enters a wildlife photography contest with a dead, stuffed animal, my grandson injured his knee while looking fir a lost cat in the rain…and he was turned away from medical help because my daughter couldn’t pay $300 upfront…this was “Urgent care”…what the hell kind of people have we become????
Things ain’t what they used to be, Patty. I hope your grandson was able to get appropriate treatment elsewhere.
My daughter did the best she could with “butterfly” bandages, peroxide and betadyne…the Emergency room is very expensive,too…unless you speak Spanish…if not, nobody seems to care around here…. Maybe they do elsewhere….
Nice picture Ron of one of my favorite raptors. We have them everywhere here in Prescott, but mostly in our backyards where we might have food or water for the birds. We have House Finches nesting in the backyard and just yesterday my wife was sitting in the bedroom talking to a friend on the phone when she saw a Cooper’s take a Finch in full flight right in front of her. He then took it to the back fence to smoother it, and then on to a large tree to consume it. Never pleasant to watch, but it is nature as it is, and hawks have to eat and feed their young too. I don’t have the equipment or the skills to enter very many contests, but I as I have said in the past, I really caught on to your site here due not only to your skill as a photographer, but for your statement, “Not baited, set up, or called in.” So many winning wildlife photos have been baited, set up, or called in.
Everett Sanborn, Prescott AZ
“So many winning wildlife photos have been baited, set up, or called in”.
Exactly, Everett. That statement is far more true than most folks realize.
Nice image of the Coopers. I have them here all the time in my backyard, usually doing their thing with the smaller birds……. breakfast, lunch, dinner…
The photographer that cheated in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest is yet another blight on the photographic community. Yes, it reflects on all of us in the end and that makes me sad and makes me mad. This guys reputation is forever destroyed. I would hope he is banned from every contest in the world for life, but I doubt that will ever happen. I’m always shocked by the lengths some photographers will go to to get the image (or in this case create the image in the computer) to try to win. How good could anyone feel “winning” a contest with a nature image that never happened in nature. I still can’t figure out how he got past the RAW image request phase. If you’ve read the article his answer to the RAW question, his response was laughable at best, perjury at worst in a court of law. Such a shame.
I agree with everything you’ve said, Keith. It just makes me sick…
Vertical seems to work better for me in this case Ron – focus is more on the bird……..:) Glad they caught the “flaming a…..” who tried to deceive – hopefully it will publicly humiliate him tho for his response I doubt it………. Someone always trying to “beat the system” or think the rules don’t apply to them………..
Thanks, Judy. I hope this guy learned a lesson but I doubt it. I suspect he’ll continue his cheating ways whenever he thinks he can get away with it.
I prefer vertical for a bird in this position. Believe it aids in focusing on your subject and not have a lot of space in the image wasted on background. Now if there were something of interest in the background that’s another story. Love dem Cooper’s hawks!
Thanks for that feedback, Axekickr. My instinct is to go for the vertical for the same reasons.