{"id":68355,"date":"2019-01-19T05:58:25","date_gmt":"2019-01-19T12:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=68355"},"modified":"2019-01-19T06:03:42","modified_gmt":"2019-01-19T13:03:42","slug":"male-northern-harrier-in-flight-against-a-difficult-background","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2019\/01\/19\/male-northern-harrier-in-flight-against-a-difficult-background\/","title":{"rendered":"Male Northern Harrier In Flight Against A Difficult Background"},"content":{"rendered":"

These photos are examples of a type of flight shot that is very difficult to get sharp.<\/p>\n

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1\/2000, f\/8, ISO 500, Canon 7D,\u00a0Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

I watched from a greater distance than this as the “Gray Ghost” repeatedly hunted this phragmites edge at Farmington Bay so I soon positioned my pickup to put me well within range if he were to be so bold as to do it again with me so close. It must have been a productive hunting spot because he made this pass several more times while I was there. I botched some of the opportunities but on this pass I was able to get an eleven shot series and all of them were sharp to very sharp.<\/p>\n

I’ve posted a couple of those images in the past but both of these photos are new to my blog.<\/p>\n

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1\/2000, f\/8, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

This was the shutter click after the previous photo. I was pleased to get contrasting wings-up and wings-down flight postures in the sequential shots. The distance the hawk has traveled from the first photo to the second becomes obvious by noting the position of the stunted dark red phrag plume that can be seen in both shots (my older Canon 7D had a slower burst rate than my current 7D Mark II.)<\/p>\n

Because the background phrags are so very close to the bird and because they have fairly high contrast with the bright stems and darker shadows between them this type of flight shot is among the most difficult to get sharp. The camera’s active focus point(s) keep trying to grab onto the background instead of the bird and damn can it ever be maddening when the bird turns out soft! In this situation it typically takes endless practice and developed skill to have a decent chance for sharp shots and even then a benevolent Lady Luck sitting on your shoulder is often another prerequisite. Luck certainly played a role when I managed to get eleven sharp shots of this hawk.<\/p>\n

Some years ago I posted a different photo from this series (not one of these two) on a bird photography critique forum (Nature Photographers Network) and someone accused me of cheating by copying and pasting the bird into the background. Of course I hadn’t but I’ve often wondered why he’d think such a thing and all I could come up with is that because the contrasty background is so close to the bird he may have thought I couldn’t get the bird this sharp without cheating.<\/p>\n

It can be done, it just isn’t easy.<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n

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Notes: <\/em><\/p>\n