And this bird photographer can always use the practice.
Back in March of 2011 I was relatively new to photographing magpies so I was struggling with both the difficult exposure on a black and white bird and the challenge of keeping that incredibly long tail completely in the frame during takeoff and in flight.
After repeatedly clipping the tail and other body parts it finally occurred to me that my chances would improve if I removed my teleconverter to give me more room in the frame. Duh!
1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in
The pair of magpies was busy building their nest in a greasewood on Antelope Island but most of the time while they were on the nest bush they had masses of twigs in front of them so I concentrated on takeoffs (landings were far beyond my skills back then).
Here I caught one of the birds immediately after takeoff with the mudflats of the Great Salt Lake in the background. I think that bit of standing blue water adds some welcome color to the image.
1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in
This is the next shot in the burst during the same takeoff. Back then I was tickled to get two shots of the same takeoff without clipping body parts even though I had to add a sliver of canvas in front of the bird to achieve a composition that was at least acceptable.
1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in
Eight minutes later I captured what is likely the same magpie taking off from the same spot and in the same direction (probably due to the prevailing south winds). This time the bird was a little lower relative to the greasewood and the water in the background and there’s a twig in front of the bird. I’m not fond of that twig directly in front of the face but I was happy to catch the magpie perfectly framed between the two parts of the bush.
Whether they’re perched or in flight magpies are tough subjects. If you have access to them and you’re an aspiring bird photographer you probably couldn’t choose a better species to practice on.
Once you’ve developed skills at photographing magpies other species should be just a little easier.
Ron
Addendum: In a comment below Elmer Deloso asked to see where my active focus point was. Not ideal in this case but it worked out.
Ron. If all of you photographers could put all of the bits and bobs you cut off together you could have some great shots.
I love your pics. Love your blog. Love the comments, also.
Always a pleasure to look at your Magpie photos. Practice on!.
I will, Lyle. You can count on it.
I LOVE your work, and of course, magpies and their entire corvid family–straying into the ridiculously redundant again! I wish they lived here, but alas, only crows and ravens like the desert here. Thankfully, they’re scamps, rogues and rascals, too. When I’m out with Jack (male Harris’ hawk) they always come in to check out what he’s doing. He ignores them unless they dive bomb him too close and then he comes to me for protection. I’m CERTAIN the crows/ravens wonder what the heck he’s doing hanging out with a human!!
What are the chances you have some images of their homes/nests? I found them very interesting when I lived in Colorado and for those who have never seen their marvels of thumbless engineering, it would be cool to see.
Laura, here’s some photos of the nest where I got many of my magpie photos over the years. I think you’ll also recognize one of my favorite magpie photos of all time.
https://www.featheredphotography.com/blog/2016/08/04/anatomy-of-a-magpie-nest/
I love the way birds (and insects) architecture so often puts ours to shame.
That nest is HUGE! Do magpies add to an existing nest year after year the way bald eagles do?
Who needs thumbs?
I love magpies and so wish they were in NC. Seeing them in person for the first time was one of the highlights of my trip to British Columbia. Thank you, Ron, for these beautiful photos.
I’m glad you like them, Melanie. Thank you.
They are beautiful. I do ok with little guys but clip larger birds. I like to get frame filling images and when the bird takes off I am not quite accurate at enough space to zoom back with my 100-400 zoom. I anticipate the jump in time but underestimate the stretch of the wings.
“underestimate the stretch of the wings”
April, I’ve been photographing birds for 13 years and I still do that. Regularly.
I doubt that anyone has demanding as you are will EVER master any aspect of avian photography. From my perspective, you are wrong, wrong and incorrect as well.
I learn so much here each and every day. Many thanks.
And of course I love ‘your’ magpies which are very different to ours but apparently share some personality characteristics.
EC. “mastering” is a tall order. In my view we can always get better but thanks for your confidence in my skills.
i agree with Ellie Baby…
Thank you, Patty.
EC, I LOVE your comments and agree wholeheartedly. Ron is somewhat obsessed with nits 😉 <3
Takeoff shots of birds are quite difficult, let alone a smaller bird like this. You must have mastered this over the years. I still end up clipping the top 1/4th of both wings, but these photos are surely an encouragement & a milestone to aim for. I would love to see where your AF-point(s) is(are) on a future post, and thanks for sharing.
Elmer, see the addendum above.
Thank you Sir Ron!
“Sir Ron”. I’ve gone up in the world…
Love all the iridescence in the last shot. They are beautiful, obnoxious, little creatures, aren’t they! 😉
Indubitably!
They’re kind of like a couple retired teachers I know. 😂
As you know, Ron, I pay attention to your camera settings in every one of your posts. This series makes me ask what time of day you got these conditions. I know you’re a little bit north of me – I’m at Lat. 38.
Martha, these photos were taken between 9:05 and 9:13 AM on March 10, 2011. I don’t even TRY to photograph magpies when the sun’s much higher in the sky than that. Antelope Island is at Latitude 41.
Each picture you get a different glimpse of this colorful guy. Can not pick a favorite ❗️ We have the Yellow-billed Magpie here. They’re fun to watch when they take over the park 😁
Diana, I’ve always wanted to photograph Yellow-billed but for me that’s very unlikely to ever happen.
The exposure is as impressive as capturing the long tail in a flight shot. A tough bird to photograph!
Thanks, Dave. With this species my tactic is to get the overall exposure as good as I can in camera but then I usually have to bring up the blacks a little during processing.
When I first started reading the post I was thinking that you sure did not need any practice at take-offs, but then as I continued I realized you were talking past tense. Beautiful photos of one of my favorites. The second one to me is the best, but they are all special. As I have mentioned before, we don’t have them here. The only time I have ever seen them was when we were once in Taos NM. I remember my wife and I hoping out of the car to get some photos of them and finding it to be very difficult as they just kept moving. Every time I would try to focus on one it was flying off again.
“I was thinking that you sure did not need any practice at take-offs”
Everett, I STILL need practice at takeoffs. That’s something few bird photographers ever completely master and I certainly haven’t.
And you’re right. They don’t like things pointed at them, whether it be long lenses or guns. They’re smart and they’ve been shot at for too many generations.
A lot of personality with these guys and they are really fun to photography with fledglings around. My favorite would be the second image. Besides no interfering twigs and great background, love the juxtaposition of the wings. Fun stuff and still enjoying my coffee. But I need to get out with camera in hand.
Frank, I have fewer opportunities with them while they’re with fledglings than I do while they’re building nests. That’s partly because they spend so much time building or refurbishing nests – many weeks.