1\/3200, f\/7.1, 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>\nExcept for a slightly different head turn the hawk hadn’t budged during my move. The two photos look so very different from each other that most casual viewers would swear they’re two different birds in different places at different times but believe me it’s the same bird on the same rocky perch less than a minute apart. If you’re still skeptical of that claim carefully compare the rocks and the lichen patterns in the two images.<\/p>\n
I think both images have their charm but I prefer the second one for its less severe shooting angle and the better sense of habitat it provides. Your mileage may vary.<\/p>\n
Thirty feet is quite a distance to move but often inches make a big difference too. When I’m shooting smaller birds from much shorter distances it’s very common for me to slide my lens one way or the other on my pickup window lens rest so a twig is no longer sticking out of the head or into the butt of one of my birds. And I regularly move my window up or down several inches depending on if I want to keep the horizon or sky in the background of my photos.<\/p>\n
When I first started photographing birds this is something I rarely if ever thought of soon enough. In the excitement of the moment about all I cared about was getting close enough to my subjects and getting them sharp. I can’t tell you how many times I kicked myself when I was reviewing my images and realized that I could have just as easily been in a slightly different shooting position and improved my photos dramatically.<\/p>\n
I’m embarrassed to admit how long it took me to instinctively consider everything involved with shooting angles as I approached a bird or even set up my tripod on those occasions when I used one. Now they come to me automatically – “get close enough but not too close and consider the light angle, the setting and the background.”<\/p>\n
There are other considerations too (such as the direction the bird is facing if your goal is takeoff or flight shots) but in this photographer’s opinion the four I mentioned above are primary.<\/p>\n
Ron<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Even slight changes in shooting angle often dramatically effect our final results, positively, negatively or just differently. These two photos are so very different from each other it’s hard to believe it’s the same bird on the same perch.<\/p>\n
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