![\"red-winged](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/red-winged-blackbird-0575b-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBlack birds of any species are generally a tough exposure.\u00a0 Throw in the bright red and yellow epaulets of the Red-winged Blackbird and the challenge can be even more daunting.<\/p>\n
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\u00a01\/1600, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n I photographed this displaying\u00a0male four days ago\u00a0at Glover Pond in Farmington.\u00a0\u00a0The light angle on the bird was just about right\u00a0to get detail in the blacks without blowing out the reds and yellows\u00a0since I\u00a0had to set exposure compensation at +2\/3 to expose this\u00a0dark bird properly.\u00a0 I’ve pretty much given up on photographing blackbirds unless the sun is relatively low and almost directly behind me (as it was here).<\/p>\n I thought the pose was interesting and there’s even some detail on the face which can be difficult to get.\u00a0 The\u00a0barbed wire perch won’t have universal appeal but at least it’s rusty instead of shiny metal.\u00a0 The background is Glover Pond.<\/p>\n I\u00a0like to study images like this to give me a better feel for the effects of\u00a0depth of field on sharpness.\u00a0 Notice that critical sharpness is already lost at the first barb on the wire in front of the\u00a0left foot and behind the lowered wings.\u00a0 If the bird’s body and been aligned\u00a0perfectly with the wire the head, tail and part of the wings would have been soft (depending on where my focus point was of course)\u00a0but since the bird is turned at an angle on the wire and parallel to me the entire blackbird is acceptably sharp.<\/p>\n Paying attention to technical details like this helps to give me a better understanding of what camera settings I need in the field in a particular situation to get the effect I want.\u00a0 But birds, especially small ones,\u00a0tend to\u00a0move and change positions so\u00a0quickly that the photographer\u00a0must be\u00a0pretty nimble at changing camera settings to take full advantage of that understanding.<\/p>\n I’m still working on that nimbleness thing…<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Black birds of any species are generally a tough exposure. Throw in the bright red and yellow epaulets of the Red-winged Blackbird and the challenge can be even more daunting.<\/p>\n