![\"northern](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/northern-harrier-7788b-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWhen I’m in the field I sometimes curse the snow but\u00a0for bird photographers that white, messy stuff can often be\u00a0a blessing in disguise.<\/p>\n
Deep shadows on your subject that contain little or no detail are generally something to be avoided, which is one of several reasons most wildlife photographers prefer to shoot when the sun is low on the horizon and the light is less harsh.\u00a0 This is particularly true for birds in flight because a midday sun would cast heavy shadows on the ventral surfaces of the bird – the very surfaces the viewer is most\u00a0likely to see while looking up at the bird.<\/p>\n
But the reflective qualities of fresh, white snow can fill in those shadows and bring out detail\u00a0nicely (something I touched on in yesterday’s post).<\/p>\n
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1\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, 500 f\/4, canvas added for composition, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n I photographed this\u00a0Northern Harrier\u00a0just over two months ago at Farmington Bay.\u00a0 The image was taken at 10:18 AM so the sun was relatively high in the sky and under normal conditions the underside of the left wing would have been deeply shaded with little detail.<\/p>\n But on this morning there was fresh, white snow on the ground that reflected light back\u00a0toward the bird which\u00a0provided plenty of detail under the wing.\u00a0\u00a0Photographing birds in flight in conditions like this is almost like shooting them\u00a0in a lightbox (the apparatus used in photo studios to provide diffuse, even illumination on the subject).<\/p>\n I’m very much a creature of habit and after all these years of photographing birds\u00a0it’s almost engrained in my DNA to only shoot in early morning (or evening)\u00a0light.\u00a0 On winter days I have to remind myself that I’m missing opportunities like this one when there’s snow on the ground and the sun is higher in the sky.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n PS – On an unrelated note, in a recent post I mentioned that I was selling my Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS USM lens (“Ken’s lens”) and\u00a0asked if any of my readers might be interested.\u00a0 I sold that lens locally\u00a0yesterday.\u00a0 Yay!\u00a0 I hope the new owner loves that lens half\u00a0as much\u00a0as I did.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When I’m in the field I sometimes curse the snow but for bird photographers that white, messy stuff can often be a blessing in disguise.<\/p>\n