Plus individual flight shots of each of them.
A week ago today I found three Blue-winged Teals swimming together at Bear River MBR. The next day I posted a single photo of one of them in flight but these photos of them are new to my blog.
1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
They exploded off the water before I even got them in focus but immediately after they lifted off I managed to get two of the three in frame and sharp. Here a male (green speculum) leads the way with a female not far behind him.
I got both of them in several other flight shots too but by then the female was further away from me than the male, so I didn’t have enough depth of field to get them both sharp.
1/4000, f/6.3, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
As a result, I’ve cropped the rest of these photo to include only one of them. This is the male, up front, but we can see the tip of the female’s bill at upper left. I could have easily cropped this photo to completely exclude her bill but I cropped it this way so viewers can tell where she was in the uncropped frame.
1/4000, f/6.3, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
Back to the female. She’s centered in the frame because I didn’t have any more room on the right. The male was already out of frame below her, except for his tail.
1/4000, f/6.3, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
Another shot of the female. I ‘cheated’ on this one though. Part of the male was still…
1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
in the cropped photo but in the previous version of it I banished him.
After reading yesterday’s post about some of the unfortunate quirks of the Canon R5, you may have wondered why I still love that camera. These photos are evidence of some of the reasons why (there are others). If I’d been using any of my previous cameras, I’d have had virtually no chance to get as many sharp photos of these ducks as I did. And I wouldn’t have been able to crop anywhere near as much and still have plenty of detail.
So yes, I’m still a big fan of the R5.
Ron
I wonder if the teal on the right in the first photo and by itself in the second photo is not a female Cinnamon. I do not see these in the East with any regularity but the facial pattern looks like the possibility. No eye crescents, less strong eye-line and slightly bigger bill. Just a question and not a definite determination.
Could be, Bruce. We have a lot of Cinnamons around here and I’m certainly no expert.
Having seen just how fast and dramatic those explosions are these freeze frame shots are a fine tribute to the camera and photographer. How I love being able to marvel at the glorious detail you have captured.
Thanks very much, EC.
Love the detail in the extended wing feathers of the female.
Thanks, Quentin.
I can’t believe you got such clear pics of blue winged teal. They are so gosh-darned fast!
Kent, I can tell you ‘get it’ when it comes to the quickness of teals. I think you have to experience it to fully appreciate it. Thank you.
Spectaculsr series!
Charlotte Norton
Thanks, Charlotte.
Three cheers for the R5 and of course the photographer. These are excellent Ron. Along with your obvious knowledge of photography and the skills you have developed, I have to applaud you for your patience. I so often miss opportunities such as these because I get impatient and move on rather than wait for ducks or others to take off.
Everett, I sure didn’t have to “wait” for these ducks. They took off before I even had time to get them in focus.
Beautiful! Great demonstration how a tool like the R5 in the right hands can produce great things! 🙂 Now to get it to do this ALL the time! ;). 1st shot definitely show how they “explode” off the water.
Nice rain Sun. night into Mon. morning and THEN, what I thought was fog was/is enough smoke to prompt air quality alerts – UGH! 🙁
“Now to get it to do this ALL the time!”
That would make me one happy photographer, Judy,
Sorry about your smoke. Except for a couple of bad days, we’ve been incredibly lucky with smoke this summer.
These photos certainly tell the other side of the R5 story.
“Exploding” is not too strong a work for ducks taking flight from the surface of water. How you can get them in frame AND get such sharp photos is a tribute to both the photographer and the device.
The dual nature of both humans and the devices they create. There is some wisdom to be had somewhere down there in all that.
All that aside, really enjoyed the photos.
Thanks, Michael. I agree with you about “exploding” being appropriate for this situation. And teals are about the most explosive of ducks when they take off. They’re incredibly quick.