![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/red-winged-blackbird-3200-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"red-winged-blackbird-3200-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nSometimes I get lucky with grab shots, which is why I take them.<\/p>\n
When I find perched blackbirds (of either species) in my shooting range I usually try for takeoff\/flight shots, but with little success. Too many things can, and usually do, go wrong – including getting an acceptable exposure on a photon-sucking black bird in flight. To compound the difficulty, all too often they’re grab shots where I don’t have time to make any exposure or other camera adjustments.<\/p>\n
But if you try often enough, sometimes you get lucky.<\/p>\n
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1\/8000, f\/5.6, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Eight days ago at Bear River MBR this male Red-winged Blackbird took off from the phrags a split second before I locked focus on him, so this is the first shot I got of him. He’s ‘sharp enough’, I like his flight posture and I’m glad we can still see some of the phrags, which anchor him to the bottom of the frame and help to break up the monotonous blue sky.<\/p>\n For me, the most prominent fly in the ointment is the lack of detail in the shaded parts of his ventral surfaces. But with a black bird in flight, I guess I can live with that.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sometimes I get lucky with grab shots, which is why I take them.\u00a0<\/p>\n