![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/song-sparrow-5968-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"song-sparrow-5968-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nDespite a relatively minor flaw this shot from yesterday morning may become a favorite songbird photo of mine.<\/p>\n
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1\/2500, f\/5.6, 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 Yesterday morning started out with a bang. Only minutes after sunrise I encountered a small group of Song Sparrows performing their antics in a clump of phragmites at Farmington Bay WMA. They were close, the rising sun provided unusually warm light and several of the sparrows were feeling their oats so I got quite a few interesting shots I like very much. This is one of them.<\/p>\n I like most everything about this photo including the statuesque pose of the bird, the fluttering wings (this isn’t a takeoff shot), the beautiful phragmites plume in golden light, the clean background behind the sparrow and the compositional placement of all of the elements within the frame. The color scheme throughout appeals to me very much and with the sun very low in the sky there’s good light on the entire bird without any distracting shadows. If the sun had been higher in the sky the underside of the right wing would have been in deep shade without any detail to speak of. Excellent eye contact with a catch light tops it all off.<\/p>\n In my view there’s only one small problem. Sharp eyes may have noticed that the head and body of the bird aren’t quite tack sharp. The quality of light was excellent but at dawn its intensity was low so during much of my session with Song Sparrows I was struggling with both shutter speed and depth of field while photographing such active birds. In an effort to keep digital noise under control I don’t like to shoot above ISO 800 and at these focal lengths shooting at f\/5.6 gives me extremely shallow depth of field.<\/p>\n So as you can see I was juggling with camera settings to give me the best compromise possible for photographing active birds in low light and this photo was one of my results.<\/p>\n But despite the flaw I’ll take it. In a heartbeat. No photo is perfect anyway.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Despite a relatively minor flaw this shot from yesterday morning may become a favorite songbird photo of mine.<\/p>\n