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<\/p>\nA 20 image series of two Tundra Swans joined at the hip at takeoff. Photographing these gregarious birds at\u00a0takeoff\u00a0and doing it well was more difficult than I\u00a0thought it would be.<\/p>\n
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1\/640, f\/9, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm f\/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 400 mm, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Three days ago I spent about 45 minutes photographing a large group of Tundra Swans at Bear River MBR. There were about 125-150 birds in the group and\u00a0they were calm and accepting of my presence (which surprised me).\u00a0Every few minutes a cluster of them would take off and occasionally more flew in and joined the group on the water\u00a0so I had many opportunities to photograph them landing, taking off and in flight. But it wasn’t easy to do\u00a0well.<\/p>\n They tended to take off in tightly packed groups like this so getting a single bird isolated in the frame or a couple of them well separated from each other was a huge challenge. When they started to take off\u00a0I had to choose a\u00a0bird or two to focus on and hope my chosen subjects started to spread out in flight so that body parts of one bird didn’t obstruct other swans in the frame. Usually that didn’t happen so I got a lot of messy images that I’ll soon be deleting.<\/p>\n But with the following takeoff sequence I got lucky. I\u00a0was able to get\u00a059 photos of\u00a0two swans\u00a0taking off and in flight with very few clipped or cut off body parts, most of them were sharp and\u00a0properly exposed and the birds were usually well\u00a0separated from each other. I’m including 19 of those images below, presented in the order they were taken.<\/p>\n Ok, here goes…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1600, f\/8, 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>\n This was the first shot I was able to get of the two swans taking off, It usually takes a second or\u00a0two to get them in my viewfinder after I hear or see them beginning to take off. For the next 14 shots there were so many other swans on the water in the background that I haven’t included them.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1600, f\/8, 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>\n Fourteen shots later the pair was mostly between two swans in the background and I didn’t find that quite so distracting.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/8, 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>\n Now\u00a0they’re mostly clear of the background birds watching the show.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1600, f\/8, 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>\n I got several shots similar to this one. It was considerate of the swans to be well separated while being so close to each other. I had just enough depth of field to\u00a0get both birds sharp enough.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1600, f\/8, 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>\n Sometimes they didn’t have to be completely separated for me to enjoy the image. Here I’ve centered the birds in the frame in order to include the water splash at left.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/8, 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>\n I like the running pose of the swan at bottom but I do wish the tip of the\u00a0bill of the top bird wasn’t obstructed by the other bird’s wing tip.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1600, f\/8, 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>\n Once again separation isn’t complete but I still enjoy the image.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1600, f\/8, 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>\n The\u00a0pose of the bottom bird might be my favorite running pose in the series because it’s so athletic. Once again I centered the birds to include the water splash.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1600, f\/8, 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>\n This was the last contact with the water I actually photographed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/8, 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>\n I love the layered look of the swans here.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1600, f\/8, 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>\n After liftoff I didn’t get any shots of their wingtips touching the water but I got several where we can see the splash it produced. This is one of them…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1600, f\/8, 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>\n and this is another. I’d like the image better if I hadn’t cut off the head of the swan on the water.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1600, f\/8, 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>\n In this shot and the next two the head of a swan sticks up into the frame at bottom (this one with a darker head and lighter bill is a juvenile). I do find it distracting to a point but I still like the images.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1600, f\/8, 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>\n It takes a while\u00a0for these 14 lb. birds to gain both speed and\u00a0elevation so even after taking 31 shots (so far) in the sequence they’re still close to the water.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/8, 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>\n This is the final shot in the series that included other swans in the frame.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/8, 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>\n Now they have sufficient air speed to gain elevation faster.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1600, f\/8, 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>\n I debated whether or not to include this photo because of the obstructed swan but in the end I decided I liked the peekaboo effect.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1250, f\/8, 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>\n Now they’re high enough to provide a better sense of the vast expanse of the refuge in the background. The blurry white blobs on the water are more swans.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1600, f\/8, 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>\n This is the final shot I’m including because the swans were beginning to bank and\u00a0turn away from me as they began to head north.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Twenty images in a single post is a new record for me. I hope it wasn’t too much for my readers to wade through but I couldn’t see breaking them up into several posts. It seems to me that seeing the\u00a0(mostly)\u00a0complete series at one sitting\u00a0provides the reader with a better sense of the entire takeoff experience.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n\n
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