![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/western-meadowlark-0525-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"western-meadowlark-0525-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nAs Illustrated by four recent photos of three different birds of two different species.<\/p>\n
When I first began blogging over ten years ago I pretty much insisted that any of my bird photos that were made public had natural or near-natural settings and perches. I made exceptions for photos documenting interesting behaviors and unusual or rare sightings of birds but other than that I was fairly rigid about it. I considered myself to be a nature photographer and to me that strongly implied “natural” in every practical way.<\/p>\n
But thanks to influence from my readers and my own sometimes uncomfortable introspection I’ve loosened up a little over time. When it comes to “the hand of man” in my photos I began to at least partially accept the credo that “if it’s good enough for birds it should be good enough for me”.<\/p>\n
But there are limits to my tolerance for man-made elements in my photos.<\/p>\n
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1\/8000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, 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 Nine days ago at Farmington Bay WMA\u00a0 I found two Western Meadowlarks that were singing softly while perched near each other on a fairly new fence. This is one of them.<\/p>\n Despite my aversion to barbed wire on several levels I was happy to get a cheery meadowlark in my viewfinder again. If I have to have barbed wire in my images I prefer it to be old and rusty but in this case I can tolerate the shiny new wire because my attention focuses on the bird and I can mostly ignore the wire.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/8000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, 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 second meadowlark, perched about 10′ away from the first one. I caught this bird in the middle of a rouse. In this instance the perch is the tip of a rusty metal fence post – not my favorite perch but to me the meadowlark dominates the image so I can put up with the less than ideal metal post.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 320, 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 Three days after photographing the meadowlarks I found this adult male Rough-legged Hawk near the Stansbury Mountains in Tooele County. This photo contains both undesirable elements mentioned above, barbed wire and metal fence posts, so it may seem inconsistent for me to say that I actually like them in the photo. Both the posts and the wire provide graphic lines that I find quite interesting without distracting significantly from the hawk so the image appeals to me. Quite a lot, actually.<\/p>\n As a photographer I also find the photo interesting on a technical level because it illustrates the sharpness gradient caused by depth of field so well. As you can see I have very little DOF at my focal lengths.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 320, 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 A few minutes earlier I photographed the same hawk on this perch. Once again the image includes a painted metal fence post and new barbed wire but the hawk is so handsome and dignified-looking and I have so much detail in good light I could really like this photo.<\/p>\n But I don’t.<\/p>\n That blue bag, or whatever it is, hanging down from the wire completely ruins it for me. I didn’t even notice the bag while I was taking the photo so I was really disappointed when I looked at my photos more carefully at home. As much as I like the hawk itself that damn bag looks so out of place it keeps harpooning my eyeballs and pulling them down to that highly obtrusive and annoying blue color. I really want to like the photo because I love the way the hawk looks. But I just can’t.<\/p>\n So absolutely, my tolerance for the hand of man in my photos has limits. My limits probably aren’t the same as yours but I suspect most of us have them.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As Illustrated by four recent photos of three different birds of two different species.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/western-meadowlark-0535-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"western-meadowlark-0535-ron-dudley\\"")
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