{"id":83724,"date":"2020-04-07T04:50:14","date_gmt":"2020-04-07T10:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=83724"},"modified":"2020-04-07T04:50:14","modified_gmt":"2020-04-07T10:50:14","slug":"rufous-red-tailed-hawk-in-flight-in-low-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2020\/04\/07\/rufous-red-tailed-hawk-in-flight-in-low-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Rufous Red-tailed Hawk In Flight In Low Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes it’s fun to attempt flight shots in these conditions just to test the limits of your gear and your skills.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

1\/1250, f\/6.3, ISO 1000, 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

This is the beautiful female rufous Red-tailed Hawk I became so enamored and frustrated with two years ago. She was so strikingly red (her colors are better seen in different postures and light than this) that I longed for flight shots of her but the first couple of mornings I found her the skies were always overcast and the light poor. This photo was taken on one of those dreary mornings.<\/p>\n

I’m surprised by how well it turned out given the conditions. I felt I had to shoot at ISO 1000 to get (barely) enough shutter speed for flight shots and in low light like this my 7D Mark II tends to struggle a little with sharpness, especially with quickly moving subjects. But I think this photo is sharp enough (whatever that is) and the noise level is acceptable. And it’s a flight shot of “my favorite red-tail” which gives me extra reason to cut it some slack.<\/p>\n

Some readers probably anticipated my biggest reservation about the image the moment they laid eyes on it. I damn near clipped that right wing. In fact it’s so close I can’t tell for sure if I clipped one of the primaries even when I zoom in on the high resolution version of the photo. If I did clip it I only lost a pixel or two but it goes without saying that I wish I had more room down there for composition.<\/p>\n

The possibly clipped wing and less than ideal composition is why I haven’t posted the photo before today. But when I worked it up for the first time last night I thought it still deserved to see the light of day.<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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