This photo is on the short list of my favorite shots of all time, partly because of its high degree of difficulty but certainly not limited to that. But the version I’ve posted in the past needed some tweaking.
This photo is a perfect example of why I typically fire off quick bursts of many shots of my subjects rather than just one or two.
Typically I’m not fond of shadows falling onto birds in my photos but I’m rethinking this one.
If you time it just right even the wings of a hummingbird in flight can be reasonably sharp at relatively slow shutter speeds.
I took a huge chance and used the dreaded Shadows/Highlights tool in Photoshop on this image in an effort to save it.
Another reason I tend to shoot at higher shutter speeds than most bird photographers and this time it still wasn’t enough.
This is why I keep returning to that gnarly old stump used as a perch in yesterday’s post.
Familiarity with bird behaviors gives photographers a much better chance of capturing the shot we’re after.
We do what we have to do to get the shot (as long as it’s safe for both bird and photographer).
As simple as it is this photo from two days ago may become one of my favorite shots of an American Avocet for a variety of reasons.
On average I photograph Merlins less often than once per year so to get two of them in my viewfinder on the same morning was a momentous occasion.
I got many photos I like of this bird but I screwed up on the only one that could have been spectacular.
