If bird photographers want the best images we can possibly get one of the very important lessons to learn is to think about our background and setting as we approach the bird and choose our shooting position. Even slight changes in shooting angle often dramatically effect our final results, positively, negatively or just differently.
1/4000, 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
This is one of the juvenile Red-tailed Hawk siblings I photographed two days ago. The bird was on a cliff with its back to me and it was very tolerant of my presence so I was able to take all the shots I wanted. But the shooting angle was fairly steep and I thought I might be able to get another part of the cliff in the background if I moved forward in the direction the hawk is facing and it might even make the shooting angle less severe. Plus I’d get more of a side view of the bird and I might even have a chance for interesting takeoff or flight shots.
As usual I was shooting from my pickup window so I drove forward for a distance of perhaps 30′ to see how it changed the shooting angle and the setting in my viewfinder.
1/3200, f/7.1, 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
Except for a slightly different head turn the hawk hadn’t budged during my move. The two photos look so very different from each other that most casual viewers would swear they’re two different birds in different places at different times but believe me it’s the same bird on the same rocky perch less than a minute apart. If you’re still skeptical of that claim carefully compare the rocks and the lichen patterns in the two images.
I think both images have their charm but I prefer the second one for its less severe shooting angle and the better sense of habitat it provides. Your mileage may vary.
Thirty feet is quite a distance to move but often inches make a big difference too. When I’m shooting smaller birds from much shorter distances it’s very common for me to slide my lens one way or the other on my pickup window lens rest so a twig is no longer sticking out of the head or into the butt of one of my birds. And I regularly move my window up or down several inches depending on if I want to keep the horizon or sky in the background of my photos.
When I first started photographing birds this is something I rarely if ever thought of soon enough. In the excitement of the moment about all I cared about was getting close enough to my subjects and getting them sharp. I can’t tell you how many times I kicked myself when I was reviewing my images and realized that I could have just as easily been in a slightly different shooting position and improved my photos dramatically.
I’m embarrassed to admit how long it took me to instinctively consider everything involved with shooting angles as I approached a bird or even set up my tripod on those occasions when I used one. Now they come to me automatically – “get close enough but not too close and consider the light angle, the setting and the background.”
There are other considerations too (such as the direction the bird is facing if your goal is takeoff or flight shots) but in this photographer’s opinion the four I mentioned above are primary.
Ron
Second is my favorite. There’s a lot of texture and movement for me.
Thanks for your feedback, Arwen.
Ron, so many different aspects to this post today. I like your four points on shooting angles that now come to you automatically. Quite interesting that moving your truck 30′ would make such a difference in the photo. From what you and some of your readers say, hawks are pretty smart birds if they react differently when they can see you turn around. Thanks for the great post, Ron
Yup, they definitely don’t like it when we turn around and come back toward them a second time, Alice. Thanks.
Like Laura I am a big lichen fan. And a raptor fan. LOTS of eye candy here this morning. I am hoping (perhaps through osmosis?) that some of your experience and learnings sinks in and I too take better ‘happy snaps’ of our avian visitors.
And I know that you have some very interesting visitors, EC. Thanks.
*She* is a special hawk…especially in the second photo, she has that air of haughtiness that says, “I know who I am … and who I’m gonna be!” What a gorgeous creature, and I love her surroundings (“clutter” be damned) — the colors, the textures, giving us a sense of how and where she’ll live her life. And may it be a very long one! 😍
Thanks, Chris. I too hope it’s a “long one”, lived out in the same area.
Thanks for another of your invaluable tips — with experience and evidence to back it up!
Thanks for mentioning the “evidence”, Kent. Without such evidence I don’t think words are nearly as effective.
For some unknown reason, this posted on YESTERDAY’S blog. My computer has been doing srage things recently. Anyway, I thwarted it this time. I copied my response…bruhahaha!
Anyway, I love BOTH of these shots for different reasons–yeah, you knew I would! After all, we’re talking baby redtails here! LOL! One thing is I’ve neglected to mention is the sheer beauty of the lichen. I’m a BIG lichen fan to the point that when we hunt at a friend’s place just east of here and a couple hundred feet higher, I struggle to pay attention to what the birds are doing. Instead, I’m ooohing and ahhing over all the pretty rocks and different lichens. I’m so easily amused!
During my time as a PR floozy in professional motorsports, I learned about paying attention to backgrounds with stuff sticking out of folks’ heads or out of their ears, etc. That, among the other factors you mentioned, can make a huge difference in press photos, too!
Just because it’s been a while since I’ve said this, I love your photos and your blog!
I’ve been a lichen fan since growing up on the MT farm, Laura. The really bright orange ones used to grow on our very old abandoned granaries and even as kid I thought they were strikingly beautiful against that dark weathered wood. Thank you for the kind words.
Beautiful indeed. Background and all!
Thanks, Jean.
Both photos have their charm and certainly demonstrate what a slight change in composition can do! It’s REALLY a dramatic change between these 2 photos. In the 2nd one I find myself drawn more to the lichen covered rocks initially tho it certainly shows the habitat. The 1st photo does give a well defined look at the hawk but other than the immediate wonderful rock and blue sky doesn’t say too much about where he’s at……. 🙂
Some good points, Judy. Neither photo is perfect of course but I sure think they demonstrate the dramatic difference shooting angle can make.
I agree with Dick about this bird being in the ‘special’ category. There is something about him…perhaps the look, the eyes and brow, the air of confidence…can’t really put my finger on it but it is just something. It would be nice to follow ‘him’ and document him. Your second photo is a really good example…I love the pose but there is so much ‘clutter’ that you see everything thing else and the bird is just lost. I find myself asking myself some of those same question when I’m out especially about lighting…if it’s wrong with no way to correct the angle as much as the bird is appealing I just move on…no sense in taking photos you will only delete and kick yourself about. I’ve learned, as silly as this sounds, if I have to turn around I make sure I drive out of sight of the hawk before I turn. If they don’t see me do it most times they stay put but not if they watch me turn as carefully as I do it. Yup, I said it was silly… 🙂
“no sense in taking photos you will only delete and kick yourself about”
I heartily agree, Kathy. That’s a lesson some of us never learn.
And your other statement about turning around is far from silly. There’s NO QUESTION that raptors in particular are more likely to stay perched if they don’t see you turn around and come back toward them. I always try to drive to a spot where they can’t see me turn around if one is available reasonably close.
Beautiful! Is there a mark or something on this bird that will identify it if you were to see it again. To me he just looks like he will survive and it would be fun to be able to know if you saw him again next year or later. Probably there isn’t, but this fellow feels special!!
I don’t know, Dick. I’ve been meaning to look for one so I can distinguish one sibling from the other. But even if there is it probably wouldn’t be useful for long because juvie plumage grows back differently during molting.
Yes, I know plumage changes, I was thinking along the lines of bill shape, differences around the eyes, legs, wings. Too bad you didn’t have a friend that bands hawks to put leg bands on the young. Oh well, I just think this guy is special or at least that is what your images say.