![\"northern](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/northern-shoveler-7325-ron-dudley.jpg\")
1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, wingtip of another bird removed,\u00a0not baited, set up or called in\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nShovelers\u00a0are the predominant duck\u00a0species along the\u00a0causeway to Antelope Island (right now a few Long-tailed\u00a0Ducks in the area are causing a lot of excitement\u00a0among birders)\u00a0and two days ago I spent a few minutes photographing them as they came in to land near the western bridge. The\u00a0biggest problem\u00a0was keeping focus locked on to the duck because\u00a0I was looking down on the surface of the water which had texture because of a breeze so my focus points kept\u00a0grabbing the water surface instead of the bird. I got about a dozen shots of this male coming in\u00a0but this was the only one\u00a0where the bird was truly sharp. Sure got a lot of sharp shots of water though…<\/p>\n
Luckily\u00a0it was also\u00a0the image where I liked the flight pose of the bird best. The swept-back wing position really appeals to me and I also like the 45 degree angle of the body, the good eye contact, the position of that pinkish right foot and the 3-dimensional qualities of the image.<\/p>\n
Yesterday I was finally able to get caught up on my image culling and it was a painful process indeed. Out of over 1800\u00a0photos taken over three days I kept only 74 images and\u00a0many of those were marginal. This shoveler\u00a0photo was one of the very few in the bunch that I liked well enough to serve as a stand-alone image.<\/p>\n
I’m sure glad I’m not still shooting film.<\/p>\n
Ron<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I’ll admit to often ignoring Northern Shovelers while they’re on the water but I enjoy the challenge of photographing them in flight.<\/p>\n