![\"short-eared-owl-7400\"](\"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/short-eared-owl-74001.jpg\" "\\"short-eared-owl-7400\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a01\/640, f\/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, noise reduction to background<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n Such was the case with this Short-eared Owl at Montana’s rugged and remote Centennial Valley.\u00a0 It was an overcast day and there generally wasn’t enough light for photographing birds in flight but this male was regularly delivering voles to his family and would\u00a0occasionally fly right by me as he did so.\u00a0 I could have removed my teleconverter to get a little more shutter speed but then the\u00a0owl would be\u00a0quite small in the frame so I just decided to fire away and hope for the best.\u00a0 Even at ISO 800 (the absolute limit for my 7D without getting too much noise) I was often getting shutter speeds of 1\/500 or slower at f\/5.6\u00a0– just not fast\u00a0enough to get birds in flight sharp.<\/p>\n I got lucky with this shot.\u00a0\u00a0As the owl was coming in, the clouds behind me opened up slightly to allow a little more light on the\u00a0bird and a shutter speed of 1\/640 – just enough to get\u00a0good sharpness on a relatively large and slow flying bird if your focus is well locked on to the subject.\u00a0 The still shaded Centennial Mountains provided a\u00a0dark and moody\u00a0background for the light-colored owl that I like.<\/p>\n No, conditions weren’t perfect but I’m still glad I kept shooting that day.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sometimes conditions are marginal at best for\u00a0avian photography and that often seems to be the case for me when I’m presented with an otherwise wonderful opportunity.\u00a0 Then the decision must be made –\u00a0 go ahead and shoot anyway, knowing it’s likely that I won’t get any keepers or just pack it in and watch and enjoy the birds?\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a01\/640, f\/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, noise reduction to background \u00a0 Such was the case with this Short-eared Owl at Montana’s rugged and remote Centennial Valley.\u00a0 It was an overcast day and there generally wasn’t enough light for photographing birds in flight but this male was regularly delivering voles to his family and would\u00a0occasionally fly right by me as he did so.\u00a0 I could have removed my teleconverter to get a little more shutter speed but then the\u00a0owl would be\u00a0quite small in the frame so I just decided to fire away and hope for the best.\u00a0 Even at ISO 800 (the absolute limit for my 7D without getting too much noise) I was often getting shutter speeds of 1\/500 or slower at f\/5.6\u00a0– just not fast\u00a0enough to get birds in flight sharp. I got lucky with this shot.\u00a0\u00a0As the owl was coming in, the clouds behind me opened up slightly to allow a little more light on the\u00a0bird and a shutter speed of 1\/640 – just enough to get\u00a0good sharpness on a relatively large and slow flying bird if your focus is well locked on to the subject.\u00a0 The still shaded Centennial Mountains provided…<\/p>\n