1\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 400, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\nI photographed this adult male Yellow-headed Blackbird six days ago at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.\u00a0He was scurrying around on last year’s dead phragmites as\u00a0he snagged midges out of the air and intermittently broke into\u00a0raspy “song”. At first glance there may seem to be nothing special about this shot – it’s just a fairly\u00a0nice\u00a0photo of a blackbird doing it’s “thing”. But I keep coming back to the image for one reason – the light and detail in the blacks.<\/p>\n
This time of year thousands of bird photographers photograph various blackbird species every day and their frustration levels are high because of the photon-trapping characteristics of those deep blacks. Getting detail there is very difficult unless the sun is low in the sky\u00a0and directly behind the photographer. Even then the bird usually has to be turned broadside to the photographer to get good light on most of the black surfaces and show detail there.\u00a0And even\u00a0when things go mostly right\u00a0many blackbird images have significant areas of blacks\u00a0that show no more detail than a chunk of coal at midnight.<\/p>\n
But with the exception of part of the left leg and a small area under the right wing there’s excellent detail in all of the blacks of this bird. To my eye it almost\u00a0seems\u00a0as if\u00a0I can\u00a0see every individual black\u00a0feather in its well-defined glory and for me at least that\u00a0almost never happens\u00a0with blackbirds. At a larger file size and resolution those details in this bird\u00a0are just stunning.<\/p>\n
As a photographer I can take only partial credit for that fact. True, I chose to shoot in the early morning when getting good detail on blackbirds is much more likely and the high quality lens I shoot with is fully capable of capturing that detail when conditions are right. But it was largely a matter of luck – the bird had to be turned just right at the instant the shutter clicked.<\/p>\n
So, even though this image may not be particularly interesting on some levels it shows me what is possible regarding detail in blackbirds. And that\u00a0motivates me to keep striving.<\/p>\n
Ron<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This image grabs me for reasons that only other bird photographers might appreciate.<\/p>\n
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