Early this past spring I had some wonderful opportunities with Sandhill Cranes near Capitol Reef National Park.
1/2000, f/8, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, canvas added for composition, not baited, set up or called in
The cranes were migrating north but spent a few days resting and feeding in agricultural fields near the park. I would usually arrive at the fields before dawn and photograph them in flight in the warm morning light as they came into the fields. Sometimes the backgrounds were mostly clouds or blue sky and in those cases I prefer to be fairly tight on the birds.
1/1000, f/8, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
But occasionally I was able to include much more of the environment and I like that effect with settings like this. Here f/8 gave me enough depth of field to define the juniper trees at bottom and Thousand Lake Mountain in the far background. The cranes are well separated from each other but close enough that I still have more than acceptable detail.
It’s not often that I get backgrounds like this of birds in flight and I appreciate them when I do.
Ron
Note: I’m on the road again and likely will be for much of the week. As usual for these camping/photo trips I’ve prepared posts to be published in my absence but I’ll mostly be without internet access so I won’t be very active here while I’m gone. I do enjoy reading any comments you may make on my phone, though.
Bliss. And thank you. Revelling in another bird I will probably never see is a wonderful way to start my day.
Did you know we have a Sandhill crane Festival just north of us every year? We see the birds here too.
Wow. I enjoyed these two a lot. Second shot almost looks like they are racing…or the upper one is and the lower one is showing him/her how it’s done. 😀
Lovely shots of lovely birds Ron!
Charlotte
I like both photos, even though my eyes hate the blurriness of the background in the second one – it makes them hurt when I look at it. But the interesting thing about the second picture is that the space between the upper bird’s left wing and feet, and the lower bird’s head is about the same shape as the background mountain. A little piece of serendipity for me.
Ron, these are lovely and I especially love the second photo – the interplay of the wings and the soaring background… Makes me want to make up a song (but lucky for you, you won’t have to hear me sing it!) Thanks for getting my morning off to such a lovely start.