It was tough shooting yesterday morning at Bear River MBR.
Temps were around 20° F. with a 30 – 35mph wind that wasn’t in the forecast. So with my pickup heater off to prevent image softness due to temperature disparity and my window partially to completely open to accommodate my pool noodle lens rest and/or my lens I about froze my keister off. That wind was brutal.
And me fumbling around with the controls of a new camera I’m still unfamiliar with didn’t help matters in the least..
The most interesting images I managed to get were of bathing Tundra Swans. Because of their size, swans have to bathe a little differently than many smaller birds. They’re just too big to furiously shake their feathers in order to throw water all around so they dip their head, neck and upper body into the water, then rise up and allow thin sheets of water to flow sequentially backward over their entire body. They do it repeatedly.
The process is surprisingly effective, as evidenced by this photo. Here we see very little feather detail because sheets of water are flowing backward over the entire bird – all the way to the tip of the tail. It doesn’t make for very exciting photos, in part because there’s very little water flying around, but I think it’s an interesting behavioral adaptation for a very large bird.
For those wondering why I didn’t include image techs, I left them out because they were highly inappropriate for the situation. When the swans started bathing I couldn’t find the right control on the new camera in time so I just went with the settings I had.
Suffice it to say, my shutter speed was 1/8000 when 1/1250 or so would have been plenty fast enough.
Ron
The Tundra swans I’ve seen had rusty colored heads or maybe I’m thinking of whistling swans.
I briefly lived with a Chinese Brown Goose (long story) who only had my tub to bathe in. He would submerge, roll over, and come up wings a’flapping. Oh my gods, the state of that bathroom!
“Oh my gods, the state of that bathroom!”
I’ll bet. I can see it in my mind’s eye.
This California boy shivering just thinking about it.
Michael, It was as cold as I’ve been in a long time.
Well it stopped the water motions!
It is absolutely amazing how thick those feather are! I don’t imagine much water gets down through all that down.
“Well it stopped the water motions!”
Ha, damned right it did, April! That SS could probably have stopped a speeding bullet… 🙂
The water detail on the back of the swan is exquisite.
Glad you like it, Kathleen. That water is slightly colored so some of it is easier to see than it often is.
Hi Ron– my reply was dropped, and I notice that no more comments have been posted–unusual– don’t know whether you’ll get this flag either.
Both comments are there, Kris. I don’t know what may have been going on.
This different bathing technique is very interesting to learn about– I only knew
about the furiously messy technique other birds use–and have the birdbath and
patio to show for it– this is as elegant as its practitioner. Love the cascade
pattern rolling down its back.
You’re right Kris, it’s an elegant process in swans. Sort of dignified, especially compared to smaller birds.
As Judy says, “BRRRRRRR” but for the Swans the word Tundra says it all. Someone here recently asked me why our Tundra Swans left and I told them it was our two weeks of high 50 to mid 60’s temps. That was enough for them. First time in ten years they cut their visit here short.
Excellent photo Ron – even if you can’t find some of the buttons etc, you are doing great. Have a nice weekend.
Thanks, Everett. This morning while I was out shooting I was cussing those buttons that I couldn’t find in time.
Well, you certainly managed to nail the exposure, even if it was luck. I’m surprised the water wasn’t freezing to the swan at that temp. I do have a question for you though. Since your exposure turned out fine, is there some reason why 1/8000 is bad?
Bernie, his SS’s aren’t inherently bad in themselves. In fact they have a lot of advantages, especially with someone like me who has shaky hands.
What can be bad is the high ISO’s often necessary to get those high SS’s. High ISO’s can degrade image quality and increase noise in the image. I probably should have been photographing this swan at about ISO 200. Thankfully I was close to the bird so I didn’t have to crop much.
Beautiful! 🙂 Not the time to “meditate” on camera controls for sure. 😉 The sheet of water water really does go smoothly over the whole back – how does it penetrate under the feathers or is that not necessary?
NOT amusing weather to shoot in – BRRRRRRR! +1 this morning with chinook of sorts coming for a high of 40. By by what little snow we have.. 🙁
I’m not sure how it gets on the underside of the feathers, Judy. If it does at all.
Another 20° session out shooting this morning but at least there was only a breeze this time. And the light was good.