1\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 500, 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><\/p>\nWhen the bird took off it launched in my direction which gave me a slightly unusual flight posture. The sidelight in both of these photos is a little strong but I thought they were interesting enough to post.<\/p>\n
Just before this shot was taken I did something unusual for me and I wish I hadn’t. I inexplicably decreased my ISO which lowered my shutter speed from 1\/4000 to 1\/2500. As readers know I like to err on the side of too much\u00a0shutter speed\u00a0rather than too little, especially for potential flight shots. Little birds like this have buzz-saw wings that require very fast SS’s to\u00a0prevent motion blur and as a result\u00a0her wings are not sharp. Wing motion blur doesn’t bother some folks but I nearly always prefer them sharp and crisp so for me it was an error to change my ISO.<\/p>\n
I’m mystified as to why I did it. It was very unlike me but it did reinforce one of my already entrenched preferences.<\/p>\n
Ron<\/p>\n
Addendum:<\/em><\/p>\nI’ve been out shooting all morning so I haven’t been able to respond in a timely manner to some of the comments on this post. And now I have an appointment to keep in just a little while so I’ll attempt to address some of the concerns expressed in the comments below in this addendum.<\/em><\/p>\nI should have been more clear about what my position is regarding setup bird photography. I have no problem with back yard bird photography or feeder photography. Occasionally I do both of them myself and I’ve posted some of those images here on Feathered Photography.<\/em><\/p>\nMy issue is with\u00a0\u00a0those who “essentially set up a \u201cstudio shoot\u201d that just happens to be outside” (Marty’s words in a comment below) and then\u00a0deliberately withhold their methods from the consumers of their photos<\/strong> (whether it be on\u00a0social media, personal websites\u00a0or any other public forum where those images are actually or potentially for sale or open to critique or comments of admiration). These photographers know that a significant portion of their potential customers wouldn’t buy their images or comment positively if they knew how they were taken so the don’t “disclose” their methods. Some of them go to great lengths to hide those methods. <\/em><\/p>\nAlan Murphy (the photographer featured in the video link in my text) is a case in point. Both Alan and I used to post images to Nature Photographers Network (NPN) for critique. NPN guidelines required that images that were setups be disclosed. But time and time again Alan would not disclose obviously\u00a0setup shots. When called on it by others who critiqued his image (including me)\u00a0he would either ignore the comment (his usual tactic)\u00a0or apologize and say he “just forgot” to disclose. But he “forgot” many, many times.\u00a0No matter how good the photos are (and Alan’s\u00a0setups\u00a0are usually very good)\u00a0setup shots seldom get as positive a critique as non-setup shots so he and a few others just kept\u00a0conveniently “forgetting” to disclose, ad infinitim…\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\nOpinions vary on this controversial subject and I was (and am)\u00a0expressing mine. Others obviously feel differently and that’s just fine. But IMO a photographer should ALWAYS be honest with his or her viewers\/consumers so I think any methods involving baiting, feeding, calling birds in electronically or using elaborate setups\u00a0that aren’t natural and alter the behavior of\u00a0birds (and potentially discourage sales or even positive comments)\u00a0should be disclosed whenever those images are displayed publicly. <\/em><\/p>\nI can respect and\u00a0even admire a setup shot that\u00a0has been disclosed. If it hasn’t\u00a0I cannot.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Plus a rant against setup bird photography…<\/p>\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n