On my belly shooting at ground Level.
A different perspective. Pixels of little swallows. Tiny little buggers. Fast as fast can be. They build their nests out of mud and saliva. Reminds me of my grandsons when they were younger. Not nest building but mixing mud and their saliva. Anyway, the Swallow is a pretty bird. Lots of energy. Very difficult to photograph in the air. Extremely difficult. Last night was the time to get on my belly just before sundown and give it another try. They knew I was there. Let me in their world for a few minutes. At first they just flew by their favorite mud hole. Then one by one they trusted my presence. Soon they were collecting mud again. At times they were numerous. I had to shoot wide open at an ISO of 3200. The depth of field was very short. All the shots with multiple birds in the frame where a little too busy for my taste. Especially due to the short depth of field putting most of the birds out of the focus range. After a little practice I was surprised to get a couple of keepers.
A side note- I was laying on my belly at the edge of the road. I was shooting through a 4 bar gate. I would hear cars slow as they passed. I am sure they considered helping the beached whale on the road side. Then it was obvious it was just a porky photographer with a giant lens, on his belly shooting at a mud hole. Oh those photographers are weird people!
Yes I broke some photographers (Moose Peterson) rule of never cropping a photograph. Hey it’s my world and I will do what I want! Take that mr professional photographer(s). Yes an editor may not take the crop. So what. I did………….
