A grab shot that worked out pretty well. Usually my grab shots are nothing but garbage.
Yesterday morning while I was photographing Hooded Mergansers up close I’d set my aperture to f/10 to have more depth of field, especially because I was often trying to get two of them sharp in the same photo. The mergansers and other ducks were confined to a fairly small amount of open water which was bordered by a thin layer of ice.
1/2500, f/10, 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
When this male Northern Shoveler in nonbreeding plumage unexpectedly flew in to land on the fairly small patch of open water all I had time to do was aim and fire without adjusting any camera settings; i.e. a grab shot. He was so close that this photo is full frame (uncropped) except for a fairly narrow slice taken off the left for composition purposes.
If you look very carefully below and slightly behind the duck you can see the demarcation line between the thin ice and open water (with bits of ice floating in it) as an arc of different colored blue. The tip of his tail appears to be touching that line, or nearly so. The shoveler barely passed the ice before landing in the water so his aim was right on the mark.
Lady Luck was glued to my shoulder for this grab shot as evidenced by the following:
- If I’d been at my default f/6.3 much of the duck would have been a lot softer than this because of insufficient depth of field.
- Going to f/10 dramatically slowed my shutter speed but it was still fast enough for a duck in flight thanks to the very bright light at the time and my fast f/4 lens.
- I didn’t clip or cut off any body parts even with him so close he nearly filled the frame as he flapped his wings. That in itself is a near-miracle.
The shoveler isn’t tack sharp but I think he’s sharp ‘enough’, whatever that is. And when I factor in degree of difficulty it’s a photo I was happy to get.
Ron
This is one type of duck that i’ve rarely seen, and never up close. So, keeping my ignorance in mind, can you tell me if that’s hair on the side of the bill? Duck baleen???
Nina, birds don’t have hair. Baleen is a reasonably close approximation.
What you’re seeing are about 110 fine projections called lamellae along the edges of the bill that act like a colander or sieve, filtering out tiny crustaceans, seeds, and aquatic invertebrates from the water.
Thanks, Ron. There’s so much to learn… isn’t it wonderful!
In your world grab shots are absolute keepers. In mine they are blurry pictures of my feet or fingers.
Lyle, very few of my grab shots are keepers.
Although a couple of days ago I came very, very close on the ultimate grab shot. A duck came in to land so unexpectedly I didn’t even have time to look through my viewfinder. I just poked my lens in the duck’s general direction and fired off a quick burst. When you do that at the focal lengths I’m using it’s a miracle to even get part of the bird in frame but that time I got several shots with nothing clipped. They just weren’t quite sharp enough.
But as they say, close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades.
WOW. I love the moment that you captured – with the tip of the tail just a hair above the quiet water that reflects the action above. And you captured the personality of the little guy. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, Kent.
Very nice posture and great for a grab shot!
Thanks, April.
Looks like both of you had some pretty good aim! I like that one foot is splayed and the other foot isn’t — like he knows that water’s gonna be coooooold. That bill is such a great adaptation. Northern Shovelers are still on my “wish list” of birds, as we’re in their non-breeding range, but I’ve yet to notice crossing paths with one.
Marty, a friend noticed and asked about that disparity in foot position too. I told him I suspected that about a millisecond after that shot was taken the duck splayed his right foot to match the left.
Later I looked at the next shot in the burst and my suspicion was confirmed.
I like the tail on the line.
🙂
I am all tooooo familiar with garbage shots. Which this is emphatically not. I can almost hear the squeal of brakes – and really like the partial reflection as well.
“Squeal of brakes”, now that brought a smile. Thanks, EC.
There’s no mistaking a Shoveler😁
A wing and a prayer is what I think when I see a bird land on the water❗️
The salmon are running so I’m off to see what’s feasting.
Have a great day.
Nope, no mistaking them.
I presume you’ve seen that they’ve finally discovered what has caused such a steep decline in Coho Salmon numbers over the years. Automobile tires of all things!
Thanks for sharing this info. I just looked it up, an interesting and sad article.
We have the Chinook salmon. It’s quite a site to see.
Oh definitely – he is saying, “How about this for a landing Ron ?” Great photo and especially for a grab shot. Every once-in-awhile a grab shot turns out to be super and that definitely can make your day. I love reflection photos and have a separate collection of them including just about every species of water birds we have.
Thanks, Everett. This reflection is one of the relatively few I like that doesn’t include the whole bird. A partial reflection often looks cut off to me.
Great shot.😍 He does appear to have a bit of a smile as Donna says. I especially like the meshing of the tail feathers…his and the reflection…almost gives the impression of a gaping mouth ready to nab. I do like the bills on these ducks; sort of the ‘Jimmy Durante’ of the Anatidae family. that said I shall stop and get another cup of coffee…
Ha, I’d just poured another cuppa right before your comment came in. Thanks, Kathy.
A wonderful shot! It’s complete with a lovely it of reflection, light it the eye and what appears to be a grin on the bill of the bird who “Stuck the landing!”
Thanks, Donna. I’m glad you like it.
Beautiful! VBG this morning – wonderful detail of the front of the Shoveler including the colors on what can often appear to be a pretty “drab” bird! 😀 Reflection is nice too!
Thank you, Judy.
I’m glad you had enough light to get those exposure settings. Lately my ISOs have been going through the roof (over 2000), even with shorter focal length, larger aperture and slower shutter speed than you have here. I’m also not very skilled at following BIF shots off of a tripod, so there’s that. lol
That’s a very nice shot, Ron!
Thank you, David.
With my 7DII I very rarely go over ISO 800 but I’m not often much below 800 either. I like to give myself plenty of wiggle room with shutter speed, given my penchant for flight, action and behavior shots that so often present themselves unexpectedly.