![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/chipping-sparrow-0942-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"chipping-sparrow-0942-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nEven though this bird from yesterday morning\u00a0is what some folks would call “only a sparrow” two of the photos in this short series are already among my favorite takeoff or flight shots of any songbird species, ever.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
1\/5000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, 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 bird was perched on wild rose but it was just a little too far away to be as large in the frame as I prefer for static shots. But if it took off its wings would help to fill the frame so that’s what I prepared for. It was “aimed” in the right direction and the light was good so I made sure I had oodles of shutter speed and\u00a0left room in the frame\u00a0for the bird in the direction it would likely take off and hoped for the best.<\/p>\n With birds that’s about\u00a0all you can do and an infinite number of things could still go wrong.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/5000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, 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 But\u00a0man did I get lucky. The bird is sharp, I love the takeoff posture, there’s light in the eye, the background is clean and appealing\u00a0and I even think the perch is reasonably\u00a0attractive (the rose hip and cluster of dying leaves that slightly resemble a flower helped in that arena).<\/p>\n I quickly glanced at this shot on the back of my camera in the field and had high hopes for it but the bird action was hot and heavy\u00a0so I didn’t take the time to\u00a0scroll through any more photos. Why bother, small birds take off so fast there was little if any\u00a0chance I’d still\u00a0have the sparrow in the frame in the\u00a0following shot anyway.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, 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 But hot damn, I did!<\/p>\n And the sparrow wasn’t even so close to the left\u00a0edge of the frame that an acceptable composition couldn’t be coaxed out of the image during processing. I suspect that one of the reasons I\u00a0was able to keep\u00a0the bird in frame for two shots was because the spindly perch was so flexible it slowed down forward acceleration when the sparrow pushed off.<\/p>\n I like the way a single toe appears to still be touching the leaf because it seems so… delicate. And because it reminds me of Michelangelo’s fresco painting “The Creation of Adam<\/a>” (that’s meant to be an\u00a0aesthetic reference, not a religious one). And I even like the fact that both the leg and the leaf are in shadow\u00a0(not sure why I like the shadow part of that equation but I do).<\/p>\n I drove for\u00a0over six\u00a0hours yesterday morning in search of birds and I may or may\u00a0not have photographed anything else of note but these two photos made all those miles worth it.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n Note: If forced to get picky with either of the takeoff shots it would be that the\u00a0sparrow in the second photo isn’t quite as sharp as it is in the first\u00a0so during processing I added a little extra\u00a0sharpening to the bird in that one. <\/em><\/p>\n I picked this nit just for you, Elephant’s Child… \ud83d\ude42<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Even though this bird from yesterday morning is what some folks would call “only a sparrow” two of the photos in this short series are already among my favorite takeoff or flight shots of any songbird species, ever.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/chipping-sparrow-0953-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"chipping-sparrow-0953-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/brewers-sparrow-0954b-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"brewers-sparrow-0954b-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\n