These photos are examples of a type of flight shot that is very difficult to get sharp.
1/2000, f/8, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM, not baited, set up or called in
I watched from a greater distance than this as the “Gray Ghost” repeatedly hunted this phragmites edge at Farmington Bay so I soon positioned my pickup to put me well within range if he were to be so bold as to do it again with me so close. It must have been a productive hunting spot because he made this pass several more times while I was there. I botched some of the opportunities but on this pass I was able to get an eleven shot series and all of them were sharp to very sharp.
I’ve posted a couple of those images in the past but both of these photos are new to my blog.
1/2000, f/8, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS USM, not baited, set up or called in
This was the shutter click after the previous photo. I was pleased to get contrasting wings-up and wings-down flight postures in the sequential shots. The distance the hawk has traveled from the first photo to the second becomes obvious by noting the position of the stunted dark red phrag plume that can be seen in both shots (my older Canon 7D had a slower burst rate than my current 7D Mark II.)
Because the background phrags are so very close to the bird and because they have fairly high contrast with the bright stems and darker shadows between them this type of flight shot is among the most difficult to get sharp. The camera’s active focus point(s) keep trying to grab onto the background instead of the bird and damn can it ever be maddening when the bird turns out soft! In this situation it typically takes endless practice and developed skill to have a decent chance for sharp shots and even then a benevolent Lady Luck sitting on your shoulder is often another prerequisite. Luck certainly played a role when I managed to get eleven sharp shots of this hawk.
Some years ago I posted a different photo from this series (not one of these two) on a bird photography critique forum (Nature Photographers Network) and someone accused me of cheating by copying and pasting the bird into the background. Of course I hadn’t but I’ve often wondered why he’d think such a thing and all I could come up with is that because the contrasty background is so close to the bird he may have thought I couldn’t get the bird this sharp without cheating.
It can be done, it just isn’t easy.
Ron
Notes:
- I wasn’t using my 1.4 teleconverter for this series which likely helped me to get the bird sharp in this situation.
- If you’re interested photo #5 in this blog post was the image I was accused of copying and pasting into the background.
Being accused of cheating is so frustrating and insulting due to all the time and effort
that some photographers go through to get their shots.
My lens would not have been up to the challenge you captured. Job well done.
Here in North Texas when they migrate for the winter, I have seen a total of 4 males
over the last 3 years in the areas I photograph. One keeps coming back to the same area
every year, so I always have an opportunity during his 5 month stay. I have seen him flying with
as many as 4 females this time around when last migration, I can’t remember any females in his hunting
territory. Great job Ron……
Thanks, James. I’m lucky in that around here we always seem to have good numbers of adult males.
Just superb photos.
In one sense I can see why the guy thought they were photoshopped, being as the Harrier is so remarkably sharp against the background. My guess is he just didn’t have the skills to even think that it could be done. On the other hand, it reflects on his poor sense of aesthetics as to why someone would actually go to the trouble of photoshopping and then use phragmites stems as a background. To me, it makes it all the more “real”. At least, if I was to photoshop a background it would be something dramatic, e.g., a sky and forest or mountains.
Thank you, Lyle. It’s one thing to “think” it might have been done but something else altogether to state that it WAS done.
How wonderful that skill, persistence and luck all played together nicely for a change.
It’s nice when it happens, EC. It doesn’t always.
WOW! These are spectacular shots Ron….I’m still amazed at how sharp you get your photos…They do look almost 3D…great work…thank you
Thanks, Steve. Believe me I don’t always get them this sharp.
FAnatastic job of getting those sharp birds so close to the phrags! The guy who accused you of cheating undoubtedly never had done nearly as well with this challenge.
Thanks, Nancy. I suspect what he said reflected on his own practices…
Great shots Ron!
charlotte
Thanks, Charlotte.
Beautiful shots Ron, but ones that make me envious. I have never seen one of the gray ghosts. I have photographed them here a few times, but always females and juveniles – never an adult male. The male of the pair I am photographing right now is a juvenile. Maybe if this same couple continues to return I will eventually see one. I guess that accuser failed to read your, “Not baited, set up, or called in.” Having read that my assumption is that this guy does not cut and paste.
Everett Sanborn, Prescott AZ
Everett, I don’t fully understand why but around here we seem to have a higher percentage of adult males than most folks elsewhere do.
When I first began posting to NPN I wasn’t using that “not baited, set up or called in” line but after this accusation and one or two others, especially regarding owls flying toward me, I just decided it should be part of my byline on NPN. When I started blogging I continued with the “tradition”.
Gorgeous, Ron! 🙂 AND #2 from the previous post is jaw-dropping gorgeous! I suppose one could possibly think that a copy/paste had occurred with #5 with the bird being SO sharp against the blurred Phrags BUT the wing tips give that idea away in my opinion.
I wish I could tell the story of how that accusation was made, Judy – but it’s just too long and complicated to go into here. Suffice it to say that guy tucked his tail very quickly. In the end it was pretty funny although I didn’t think so at first.
Be still my heart! ❤️ I’m referring to the ‘Grey Ghost’ posing on the wooden post in the previous posting you suggested. I really can’t find the right words to describe it but it is truly honor worthy both for you and the bird. All of the photos in that post and this post are absolutely terrific. Looking at the harriers against the phrag stems gives the look of 3D so I can understand why someone could think ‘cut & paste’; but anyone who has tried photographing in that situation knows what can happen. (It sure has happened to me. I’ve thought, ‘that doesn’t look right’.) Besides all that, you could possibly be referred to as a ‘Harrier guru’…your photos give them the honor they deserve! They are a special and it’s exciting to watch their hunting process. Great sets!
Kathy, that photo you mention specifically is from quite a few years ago and I still remember the process of taking it. I was pretty excited to see that bird in my viewfinder and there was a vehicle coming down the road so I knew I didn’t have a lot of time with it. I was very happy how several of those shots turned out.
And I agree, the 3-D effect in the shots in this post may have contributed to that person’s suspicion that I’d cheated but I still think it was inappropriate to make the accusation. He didn’t equivocate – he flat out stated that I had cheated.