![\"rough-legged-hawk-4550b-ron-dudley\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/rough-legged-hawk-4550b-ron-dudley.jpg\")
1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 320, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nI photographed this Rough-legged Hawk five days ago in sub-zero temperatures\u00a0in a remote area of Box Elder County. The bird was perched on rabbitbrush that was half buried by a snowdrift and I thought the setting was fairly unique and quite interesting. I’ve cropped and composed the photo to include the half-circular rabbitbrush arch and as much of the snow mound as I could.<\/p>\n
The weather conditions were extreme out there that day and I thought this photo reflected\u00a0the mood well. In my images the avian subject is usually larger in the frame than this\u00a0but here I think the rabbitbrush and snow are almost as important as the hawk. If the bird had largely filled the frame I believe the viewer would be deprived of important elements that contribute to the mood of the image\u00a0and the\u00a0harshness of the environment.<\/p>\n
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When the hawk looked to its left it allowed me to compose the photo differently. Here the bird is a little larger in the frame and more of the background is out-of-focus snow but we’re missing the complete arch of the rabbitbrush, much of the snowbank and the intimacy\u00a0provided by direct eye contact.<\/p>\n The first photo is my favorite of the two.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n Note:\u00a0That morning was one of the most frustrating experiences\u00a0of my photographic career. After a\u00a0dangerous\u00a0drive of\u00a0just under\u00a0two hours\u00a0over snowy roads to reach my destination and photographing many raptors after I finally got there (including a close Golden Eagle on a natural perch) nearly all of my 348 images taken with my 500mm lens were very soft. My shots of this bird were the only ones that were sharp. Mia had the\u00a0same problem with her 500mm Nikon.<\/em><\/p>\n The culprit was air turbulence caused by the extreme temperatures (it was as low as -22\u00b0 F that morning). After I arrived home and things “warmed up” a little I tested my gear at a local pond and my images were sharp again. <\/em><\/p>\n I suspect that some of my viewers who are photographers may\u00a0have experienced similar problems with the extremes of weather we’ve been having the last few weeks.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Seldom are the settings as dominant as the birds in my images. These two are exceptions.<\/p>\n![\"rough-legged-hawk-4552b-ron-dudley\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/rough-legged-hawk-4552b-ron-dudley.jpg\")
1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 320, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n