![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/great-horned-owl-0127b-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"great-horned-owl-0127b-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nMan, does this photo ever bring back memories from long ago!<\/p>\n
It was taken on May 16, 2007 and it was the first flight shot of any bird I ever attempted. At the time I was hugely\u00a0intimidated by flight shots. Hell, I even had trouble getting\u00a0static shots sharp and I certainly didn’t understand camera settings\u00a0– “poke and hope” was my standard operating procedure back then.<\/p>\n
For this shot\u00a0I was using my first digital SLR camera, a cheap Canon XTi\u00a0mounted to the early version of Canon’s 100-400 zoom lens. I’d only recently bought my 500mm lens but it was heavy, I was on foot and I knew even less about using it than I did about my other gear so I’d left my big gun in the house.<\/p>\n
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1\/1600, f\/9, ISO 400, Canon Rebel XTi, Canon EF 100-400mm f\/4.5-5.6L IS USM @100mm, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n I’d walked up the hill from the house on the Montana farm to a very old granary that from a\u00a0great distance\u00a0I’d seen an owl fly into. The granary was so old it was literally falling down. The owl was perched on one of the interior rafters that was exposed to the sky due to the deterioration of the granary. I got a few shots of him perched but other rafters were blocking part of the owl. Since he was partially hidden I thought he was comfortable with my presence but apparently I was mistaken because without warning he took off.<\/p>\n All I had time to do was point my lens in his direction and fire – there was no focusing involved. The only reason I was able to get him as sharp as I did was because I was so close to him and I was shooting at only 100mm which gave me oodles of depth of field. I like the wing position and the head turn but I wish I’d had a little more shutter speed to get his wings sharper.<\/p>\n It isn’t a great shot but it isn’t bad either. And I certainly don’t deserve credit for the skill usually required for flight shots – this result\u00a0was pure, unadulterated luck.<\/p>\n And you know what?<\/p>\n After almost eleven additional years of bird photography it’s still my only flight shot of a Great Horned Owl.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n PS – At this very early point in my bird photography I was still shooting in jpeg rather than RAW and this photo was underexposed in camera. I hate processing images taken in jpeg, especially those requiring exposure adjustments. I strongly encourage any serious photographer reading this who’s still shooting in jpeg to switch over to RAW as soon as possible. <\/em><\/p>\n