Ok, it’s past time to fully address the elephant in the room when it comes to my photography.
1/3200, 5/6.3, 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 four image series of a Northern Harrier in flight was taken four days ago at Bear River MBR. In this first shot the hawk was in full hunting mode so her eyes were glued to the ground as she searched for a vole or small bird to pounce on. As a result I don’t have a catch light in the eye but I’ve documented the hunting behavior reasonably well.
1/3200, 5/6.3, 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
As she got closer and probably became more aware of the clicking of my shutter she became more wary of my pickup so she looked up to keep her eye on me. That slight change in head angle provided light in the eye as she…
1/4000, 5/6.3, 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
began a slow turn to my right and away from my pickup.
1/5000, 5/6.3, 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 the last relatively sharp shot I was able to get as she continued to hunt further away.
I suspect many bird photographers who regularly visit my blog literally wince at my unusually high ISO’s and shutter speeds but for me there’s method in my madness. I tend to choose those settings for the following reasons, some of which are specific only to me:
- I have essential tremors which often causes my hands to shake. Shaky hands when shooting at long focal lengths is a combination that almost guarantees soft photos at slow shutter speeds, thus my typical high ISO settings designed to give me higher shutter speeds.
- Action, behavior, takeoff and flight shots are my forte and they require unusually high shutter speeds because birds are so damned fast.
- I shoot in aperture priority which means my shutter speed often fluctuates wildly as the brightness of the background and setting changes and as the bird moves into and out of light. This series is a good example of that. Notice how my shutter speed increased from 1/3200 to 1/5000 as the harrier began to get more bright sky behind her. If she had dropped down lower instead it would have placed more dark phrags behind her so my shutter speed would have plummeted. Where a bird will fly of course cannot be predicted so my high ISO’s and resulting SS’s give me some necessary wiggle room.
But sometimes there’s a price to pay when shooting at high ISO’s – excessive noise (grain) in the image and I paid that price in this series. I’m noticing more noise in the darker background in this series than I usually do. It isn’t bad but I do notice it.
But I’d rather have sharp shots that are a little noisy than soft photos with little grain. That choice isn’t even a horse race but like most photographers I’m greedy and would prefer the best of both worlds.
That’s one of several reasons I’m currently researching new cameras. Better noise handling capabilities would be a welcome improvement.
Ron
Notes:
- In some folks essential tremors is an aggressively progressive condition that negatively and drastically affects their lives. In later life Katherine Hepburn’s very obvious head-shaking was caused by essential tremors inherited from her grandfather and Daryl Dragon of Captain and Tennille fame was forced to retire from music because of his tremors. Thankfully mine are less severe, aren’t particularly progressive and only affect my hands, at least so far. My paternal grandfather, father and two sisters also had (have) essential tremors to varying degrees.
- Yes, I know. If I were to switch to shooting in manual or shutter priority rather than aperture priority it would mitigate some of my problem with noise. But that would bring it’s own set of challenges and I’m a creature of habit who’s comfortable with shooting in aperture priority. I know it well, to the point that it’s integrated into my muscle memory, so I won’t be changing.
Merry Christmas, Ron. Thank for this amazing series of this beautiful Northern Harrier. So regal. And thank you for another year of wonderful photos. I am looking forward to 2020 and another year of fantastic photographs from you.
Hi Ron,
Interested to read your notes about your essential tremor. I was initiallly diagnosed as having essential tremor. Then subsequent tests confirmed diagnosis is actually Parkinson’s Disease. Revised medication schedule diminished tremor, sleep problems, etc. Some days better than others. Difficult to type at times. Decided to change to new generation stabilization camera, SONY A6500 with IBIS (In Body Image Stabilization) combined with lens stabilization. Combined with high speed shutter results in sharper images.. Use auto ISO, and have come to same conclusiion that willing to accept more grain in order to improve sharpness. Since most photos are cropped, the advantage of the 6500 is that iit is high resolution – 24megapixel – essentially same as the cropped image oon their oaatest and most expensive new A7R IV. A6500 does 10 frames per second.
I was one of the founders of the new field of NeuroOrnithology and continue to study mechanisms f flight and feeding.
Harvey
Ron, a friend of mine introduced me to your fabulous photos and blog. I am an amateur photographer and avid bidder so I am learning from your comments and consider myself a student of yours. Thank you for sharing! Happiest of holidays to you and yours. Jean -snowbird in Tucson and Olympic Peninsula, WA resident.
Welcome to Feathered Photography, Jean!
Ron, you and your readers present more information than I can understand but I still enjoy every minute of it. Please being who you are and presenting spectacular photos and creating such narrative among you and your knowledgeable readers/photographers. It is so much fun for me. Thank you and Merry Christmas to you and dear ones.
Alice, my blog subjects jump around but nearly all of them are bird, wildlife or photography related so I figure if folks stick around long enough most of them will find something interesting. Thanks for sticking around, even when it might not be your bag…
Let’s hear it for stubborn Tauruses! 😀
Thank you for the lessons in camera technology. I most likely will never put any of this into practice (being technologically challenged), but the best tribute I can give to your teaching skills is that I’m still totally interested in all the photography information you provide!
And I especially like the first shot of her scanning for food.
“the best tribute I can give to your teaching skills is that I’m still totally interested in all the photography information you provide!”
I take that as a huge compliment, Marty. I remember having a few teachers like that myself – those who could interest me in a subject I thought would bore me. They made their presentation so well I ended up hooked. Good teachers make a difference.
Hey Ron, one question I have always had about your settings … You seem to have really good depth of field even though you are shooting at a pretty big aperture. What is your trick of getting the images so sharp for the birds whose parts are a few inches closer/farther than other parts? And on a related note, I know that you do sharpening in post-processing. Any tips? You may have mentioned this in past blogs, and if so could you please point to them? Thanks much for sharing some more amazing photos! And have great holidays!
Kent, I don’t really have a “trick” regarding DOF. What you describe may be related to the fact that I’m usually shooting at an effective 1120mm so the bird may be further away from me than you think, especially if you’re used to using shorter focal lengths. Being further away from my subject would give me a little more DOF in inches.
Regarding sharpening technique: Here’s my response to a similar request several years ago:
“In response to some inquiries in comments below about sharpening, here’s the technique I typically use (basically the one I learned from Dave years ago). This technique presumes processing in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements which should be similar to full PS (I haven’t processed in Elements for quite some time but I used to). I have no experience with processing in other programs.
First I crop the RAW file and make any minor exposure adjustments, all in ACR (Adobe Camera Raw – it comes with Photoshop).
Then I convert to jpeg and pull the image into PS for resizing and sharpening (usually I do no other processing). Typically if I’m preparing the image for the web I resize anywhere between 720 and 1200 pixels on the long side. My blog post images are 900 pixels on the long side.
I usually sharpen the bird selectively by carefully masking it first. This has several advantages over global sharpening – it will prevent “sharpening halos” and it also prevents an increase in noise in the background which sharpening can cause. Masking can be tedious but it’s worth it. Once you’ve learned to use the many selection tools in PS, the process of masking becomes much easier and quicker.
I use the “Unsharp Mask” tool for sharpening with the settings at: Amount 125%, Radius .3, Threshold 0. Photoshop has other sharpening tools but this is the one I prefer. Typically I apply 1-1.5 rounds at that setting but the amount can be adjusted by going to edit, fade unsharp mask and moving the slider back by percentage until the sharpening looks “right” to my eye. An average amount of sharpening for me at these settings is probably about 1 round but the amount really depends on the image (when I’m sharpening an image for printing I sharpen more than I do for web presentation)
Too much sharpening will make the image look “crinkly”. Practice and experience will he helpful in spotting oversharpening. It’s important to note that no amount of sharpening will “cure” an image that came out of the camera significantly soft.
If I have whites within the mask that show very little detail and are already quite bright I remove those whites from the mask before sharpening because: a, there’s no detail there to sharpen anyway and b, sharpening will make the already bright whites even brighter.
All this presumes that in-camera sharpening settings have been turned off. I want to have control over the amount of sharpening. I’m of the opinion that all images in that situation can benefit from at least some sharpening.
That’s what I do. Others use different techniques and settings that also work well.
One more thing – unless my image has been taken in very low light I avoid increasing saturation or contrast while processing. In my opinion, oversaturation is the most common way folks ruin their nature images. Some of them actually hurt my eyes…
This is invaluable guidance! Thanks very very much Kent
You’re very welcome, Kent. I hope it’s helpful to you.
Maybe because I learned so much from you, but I shoot in AV and often high ISO to capture the birds in motion. Frequently the light is low and my ISO is 1000 to 1200. It is grainy, but I am invested for some time in Cannon so I guess it is what is and I am not a pro, just hobbyist. I don’t think if I were to shoot in manual I could make changes fast enough to capture the fast motion of birds. I also like being able to change my DOF quickly to capture more than one bird, or sharper overall, which changes my ISO to lower numbers.
Have you looked at the Olympus OM-D E-M1 II? I assume you will be switching all the lenses too or are you going to use an adapter?
I wish I could get some decent shots of harriers. I mostly have butt shots. My focal range is not a long as yours. Ahh lens envy!
April, for a while I was checking into Nikon, Sony and to a lesser degree Olympus. But I’ve decided I’m not going to switch camera brands because I’m too invested in Canon lenses (which I love) and I refuse to use an adaptor for several reasons.
I fully understand lens envy. For me the only thing that cured it was buying my first 500 f/4. I hope yours is more easily (and more cheaply) cured… 🙂
Beautiful shots!
Thanks, Jean.
My father often told me I was more stubborn than stains. I suspect he would have levelled that charge at you too – while applauding it. His hands also shook (particularly if he was tired/annoyed. As mine do.
Thank you hugely for your persistence/stubbornness and the beauties it gives us.
EC, my hand-shaking flares up when I try to do something requiring fine motor skills or if I’m nervous.
A cop once pulled me over for an expired sticker (a bureaucratic snafu by the state prevented me from renewing it on time) and my hands were shaking when I pulled out my driver’s license so he could check it. I explained why they were shaking and he replied a little suspicially, “Yes, I noticed…”.
It isn’t a good thing to make a cop nervous these days…
I think these are super. Flying birds are so difficult and you make it all seem so easy and so – well, true to the bird.
Two professional wildlife photographers I know have switched to new Sony cameras. One from Nikon, the other from Leica. At first their photos were just not as “good,” as with their earlier cameras, but after a few months they were both, in their singular ways, getting exceptional shots. I don’t know which Sonys they went to, but both have achieved spectacular results. One with really high shutter speeds. You probably know all this . . .
Thank you, Sallie.
I suspect your friends may have switched to either Sony a-9’s or aR11’s. For a while I considered the a-9 but eventually concluded it wouldn’t be practical for me for several reasons.
Hi Ron,
I was out yesterday for wintering Sandhill Cranes here in southern Arizona, and there are of course always Harriers around. I’m still searching for a truly great image, similar to what you described in you journey to your best image. Thinking about it, I googled this morning and landed on your wonderful blog. Your archive speaks to your accomplishments, and I see from this post that you were out as recently as this morning. Anyway, I see you’re currently shooting the 7DMII, and I was wondering what you choose for the 3 focus tracking parameters. I’ve read many different recommendations from many accomplished photographers, and tried various settings. I’m honestly not certain about how much difference it makes, but was curious about your thoughts, as your expertise is readily apparent. Appreciate any insight, and as always, good birding!
Axel, actually I didn’t go shooting this morning. It was too cloudy and still is.
I’m afraid I won’t be of much help to you. Lately I’ve been shooting mostly in Case 3 but I bounce around in those 3 tracking parameters too. Like you I don’t notice a lot of difference in them and besides, even if I did I’d likely just see another bird I wanted to photograph in a different situation and wouldn’t have enough time to change those parameters. I’d rather screw up an opportunity for almost any other reason than because I was fiddling with my settings as it flew by…
Great photos…love that bird. finally saw my first two Rough-legged Hawks of the season the other day. Hope springs eternal…maybe more will be around! I usually have my ISO set at 800. I will change it it need be but for the most part it works for me with AP. I have a hard time with the weight of my lens…I really don’t have the strength that I used to and don’t like using a tripod or monopod. I do what works for me and don’t seem to have an issue.
Kathy, we saw at least 15 different Roughies at Bear River on the day I took these harrier photos. Not one of them cooperated but I’m sure glad they’re there!
I like that third shot a lot because she does have you in her sights. 🙂 Good thing birds don’t have cameras, eh?
“Good thing birds don’t have cameras, eh?”
Darn good thing! At the moment I’m thinking about what some of their photos might show and it wouldn’t be pretty… 🙂
I salute your willingness to find workarounds and the success that you have had ! I know someone whose ET was essentially the same as yours in
effect and distribution; he gave away the tools of the crafts he loved and retreated into bitterness ( and mind-numbing TV ) over the loss instead of
finding adaptations to his approaches.
I’m grateful every morning to be treated to the victories your dedication has produced—-and I’m very glad that you’re willing to be straight-forward
about the effort it has taken–who knows who else might take heart from your “stubbornness” ?
“who knows who else might take heart from your “stubbornness” ?”
Kris, your comment warmed my heart, in particular that part of your last sentence. That potential outcome would be wonderful, wouldn’t it.
I’m so sorry about your friend. If his “craft” was related to woodworking I understand his frustrations. I was a serious woodworker for years before I took up photography. The reason I gave it up had relatively little to do with my tremors but these days they’re bad enough that if I’m working on some small wood project I can’t even hold a pencil steadily to mark my cutting line on the wood.
At least I still have all 10 of my fingers. Losing my shutter finger to my table saw would have been… unfortunate.
And holy hell, you should see my atrocious signature! 🙂 Writing checks is a nightmare. When photo clients want prints with my signature on them I use a digital signature using my name but written by someone else.
I did some research for a friend of mine who has Parkinsons and came upon a NON invasive procedure done during a cat scan that will stop the essential tremors and Parkinsons tremors in your hands. At least one hand if not both. No down time. The procedure was developed in Israel but is no available in most hospitals. you should check it out. Non invasive and no down time sounds great. Won’t help my auto immune issues but it may help you.
I don’t comment much Ron, but you know I’m a fan. My day always starts with your amazing photography.
Merry Christmas and happy new decade…2020!!
Thanks very much for the tip, Ellen. I’ll check it out and then ask my neurologist about it next time I see him.
I’m so sorry you’re dealing with essential tremors, but thankful that they’re less severe and not particularly progressive. But the good news is you’ve found the workarounds to continue doing what you’re doing–pursuing your passion. And that’s the MOST important part!! It was available for you to make a different choice, letting the tremors take over your life, perhaps even progressing more rapidly because of that decision! But NO! Your choice is to keep on keeping on, stubbornly finding the way to do what you want to do. That’s FAR more important than the nits you need to pick, and for that, I’m rising in a standing ovation!! Let the criticizers criticize if they must and move on with your passion!!
With the RA, I’m continually searching for new workarounds as the RA progresses. I’ve often joked that you’ll have to pry my cold, dead fingers out of my falconry gauntlet because I’m not going to quit despite the continuing challenges. When the birds are hungry, we go hunting, period. Yes, it hurts, but it’s going to hurt whether I go or not. Easy choice! Besides, that letting it take over my life is far too boring!! NOT for me!!
BTW, the hawks tell me that stubborn is good 😉
I know that you truly suffer from your RA, Laura. You’re a trooper too!
I have a nephew with Global RA. He’s in his 40’s now and its affect on his life has been devastating. He’s dealt with it heroically and has a wonderful attitude about it. I admire him hugely for that, in part because I KNOW I wouldn’t deal with it nearly as well as he has, and continues to.
Good for you David Krepps!
Seems like you’ve mentioned the tremors sometime in the past……? I don’t have that but have noted I’m not as steady as I used to be and it DOES create issues! 🙁 Glad you’ve been able to adapt so far and, hopefully, can come up with a camera that does higher ISO’s. 🙂 Beautiful photos of the Harrier! 🙂
Yes, I mentioned the tremors twice previously but one those times was in a reply to a comment rather than in my post so many readers likely never saw either one. Thanks, Judy.
Beautiful flight photos as always Ron, noise or not. You say flight photos are your forte and that is true. We see these beautiful photos from you and other very skilled photographers, but rarely if ever think about the physical condition of the photographer himself or herself. I have a friend here who is an excellent photographer in his 70’s who walks to photo ops carrying equipment much like yours. He also is really good at flight shots and told me that he faithfully lifts weights so that he can handle and maneuver the heavy camera lens and extender. Hope that your tremors never advance to the stage that Hepburn’s did.
Everett, I also know bird photographers who put themselves through physical training to enable them to hand-hold such heavy gear. Thankfully I mostly shoot from mu pickup using my noodle as a lens rest and I have the newer Canon 500 f/4 what is significantly lighter than my previous 500. That’s one of the main reasons I was willing to cough up all that extra cash to purchase it.
I should have specified that I get more keepable, sharp FLIGHT IMAGES. I will often slow way down for perched images.
I do the same thing when I’m confident my subject is unlikely to be moving fast for some time. But birds are both unpredictable and FAST so I don’t do it as often as most bird photographers do because I’m so addicted to takeoff and behavior shots.
Christmas came early this year when my favorite bird subject (the Northern Harrier) graced my inbox this morning! Your pictures always make me feel lucky to be part of a group that loves nature as much as I do. And while you’re sometimes worried that your readers are picking up on some small photography choice, all I notice is that the Northern Harrier is spectacular: she is the perfect combination of beauty, strength and grace. Merry Christmas, Ron! I look forward to following you in 2020!
What a nice comment, Emily!
I agree, many of my readers typically don’t notice many of the flaws that I point out. However, I also know there are others, bird photographers in particular, who must often shake their heads in dismay at what they’re seeing but they’re too polite to make an issue of it in their comments.
Maybe I’m a little paranoid… 🙂
I don’t have tremors, however, I have noticed that I get a lot more keepable, sharp images using shutter speeds of 2500, 3200 or 4000. I shoot a little differently than you do, however. Instead of aperture priority or shutter priority I shoot in manual, for example for flight shots I will often choose 2500 @ f 6.3 (I believe that the slight stop down from 5.6 to 6.3 on my Nikon 200-500 yields a significant improvement in sharpness). I will then choose Auto ISO and simply let the camera choose the ISO that balances the exposure triangle. I can fix noisy (to some extent) I can’t fix blurry.
I notice the same thing, Tom. But we can’t predict background brightness with moving targets so sometimes my SS really shoots up.
It took me years before shooting in AP became almost as natural as breathing in my muscle memory so I’m not willing to change to another shooting style that has it’s own set of challenges. Being such a creature of habit very definitely has both advantages and disadvantages.
I know what you mean. I’m primarily a landscape photographer and shoot exclusively in AP for all of my landscape work. I have done so for almost 20 years.