![\"american](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/american-white-pelican-2135b-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nI don’t post images of these two species as often as I should. Both are common in my area and such large birds are relatively easy to photograph in flight so I hope the reason I’ve largely ignored them has nothing to do with snobbishness on my part.<\/p>\n
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\u00a01\/5000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon<\/em> EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n I photographed this American White Pelican three weeks ago at Bear River MBR. I have other shots of this bird (and others)\u00a0with slightly more interesting wing positions but they were against a plain sky background. I much prefer those images that include far off\u00a0mountains in the backdrop and this is one of them.<\/p>\n I often wonder how these heavy-bodied birds can even fly but once they become airborne there aren’t many species that are more graceful and effortless in flight.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon<\/em> EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, canvas added for composition,\u00a0not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n When I do get a featureless, homogenous background I tend to crop fairly tightly on the bird if I have the pixels to do it. This Great Blue Heron, photographed at Bear River a week ago, was in good light against slightly smoky skies. The shot was taken early in the morning so there’s no annoying shadows and the light was still warm and flattering.<\/p>\n Both of these images are examples of something I need to improve on – my shutter speed and ISO are much too high in both shots. When I’m driving around looking for birds most of them are on the ground or perched against a darker background and I have my camera settings adjusted appropriately. But when a bird in flight suddenly appears, by the time I get my pickup aimed the right direction and the engine turned off I often have no time to adjust camera settings before taking the shot.\u00a0In that situation the\u00a0bright sky background automatically boosts my shutter speed, sometimes dramatically (I shoot in aperture priority).<\/p>\n Often my choice is to get the shot at the settings I’ve already dialed in or miss the bird as I’m fiddling with my camera. But I must admit that since I purchased the Canon 7D Mark II that handles higher ISO’s with less noise than my previous camera\u00a0I may have become a little complacent about less than ideal camera settings.<\/p>\n One more thing to work on in the field…<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I don’t post images of these two species as often as I should. Both are common in my area and such large birds are relatively easy to photograph in flight so I hope the reason I’ve largely ignored them has nothing to do with snobbishness on my part.<\/p>\n![\"great](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/great-blue-heron-0969-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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