{"id":32148,"date":"2015-06-20T06:48:50","date_gmt":"2015-06-20T12:48:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=32148"},"modified":"2015-06-20T10:21:13","modified_gmt":"2015-06-20T16:21:13","slug":"kingbird-in-flight-with-horizontal-wings-and-i-actually-like-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2015\/06\/20\/kingbird-in-flight-with-horizontal-wings-and-i-actually-like-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Kingbird In Flight With Horizontal Wings – And I Actually Like It"},"content":{"rendered":"

I don’t often keep an image where the wings of a songbird in flight\u00a0are in a horizontal position. It’s a flight posture that generally doesn’t appeal to me as much as when the wings are in the up or down position and I believe many folks have the same preference. Flashy wings held vertically (either up or down) are usually\u00a0more dramatic and visually interesting.<\/p>\n

And then there’s the problem with depth of field. Wings held vertically are largely in the same focal plane as the body of the bird so if the body of the bird is sharp, so are the wings (if you have enough shutter speed). Wings, especially the tips, don’t always have to be tack sharp because motion blur of the tips is almost expected with a bird in flight but when they’re held horizontally one of them often appears as a soft, blobby mess in front of the bird and that doesn’t tickle the fancy of many viewers of the image.<\/p>\n

But occasionally I get an image with the wings in the horizontal position and actually like it.<\/p>\n

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\"western1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

This Western Kingbird photo\u00a0is one of those images (taken 3 weeks ago on Antelope Island). Even though the sexes of the species are similar I know this bird to be the male for behavioral reasons. He had just taken off from his favorite perch near the nest that was being constructed by\u00a0his mate and I caught him with his wings held horizontally.\u00a0The right wing in that position\u00a0even hides most of the interesting ventral yellows so going by my typical formula this\u00a0image would most likely be deleted.<\/p>\n

But I like the shot anyway, for a variety of reasons:<\/p>\n