I recently received and email from one of my blog followers.
They basically said that anyone can get a stop action shot of a bird with a $11,000.00 lens and a $5,500.00 camera. They said the real test was to shoot at low shutter speeds and capture a great shot of a bird.
I love a challenge. Especially when it comes to photography. Remember that I am the one that says over and over if you take enough shots eventually one will be good. But this is a particular shot with a particular challenge.
Got to FBWR just as the sun was setting and found a mated pair of Northern Shovelers. The Northern Shoveler has a large spoon bill. They are very colorful. Just like most they ducks take off and fly very fast. A challenge to get a sharp stopped action shot. And more difficult to get a sharp image in low light. I know that from experience to freeze a shot like this the shutter speed needs to be above 1/4000 second. With a duck maybe even needs faster shutter speed. So to complete the challenge I needed to get a slower shutter speed and pan the camera with the shoveler at the same rate as the bird. I decided on 1/1200 of a second at f/4 and ISO 3200. The shot should have motion in the wings and a sharp head/eye…….
As I left the beautiful Utah Sunset stopped me in my tracks. Took a couple for the heck of it. Incredible color!
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