TurkeyVulture+Repost
by Steve Balke
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) On the bus from the airport to a resort at Jibacoa, Cuba these birds were constantly in evidence flying high in groups of about five to ten. Over the resort they were often present too. I’ve seen them here in Ontario, Canada and I know many of you are familiar with them: they range from southern Canada to southern Argentina! They have always been too high for me to obtain a good shot with my 400 mm lens. For this image I climbed a small mountain (a really large hill actually) and met this one face to face. He seemed to be checking me out!
I don’t like the shadow in this shot and was not able to extract any more detail from the shadow area. However, the face detail is interesting and it was impressive to be so close to this large bird in flight. This is my first BIF posting: I know from all the wonderful BIF shots that I see here that I have plenty to learn!
All comments welcome.
EOS 7D, EF 400mm f/5.6: ISO 640, 1/1000 s, f/8.0, image is full frame for the 7D (5184 x 3456 pixels (=18 MP)).
Comments
16 commentsHow wonderful that you had the hill to climb to get higher up to get this shot. I do like the flight pose, but as you mentioned wish you could pull more details out of the shadow area. These vultures are a challenge though to expose properly, even more so on light sky in my experience.
I think you did very nicely for your first BIF shot. Keep up the good work!
BIF are tough - tough exposure, film speed, and hand-holding big lenses + panning.
Keep practicing!
Sandy r-
I'm with you and the others about not liking the shadow, but the detail on the face, as you stated, is very good. These are very common birds in my area and I have lots of opportunities to photography them in flight. I've never posted a shot here because of the lack of detail in the small head of the big bird. I think they are tough subjects to photograph in flight and ythis is a very good first effort.
Luke, here is your pano shot. Looks fine -- maybe even better than the original with blue space --- I think it all depends on the message: bird close-up for interest in detail or soaring inquisitive bird in its environment! Nat, I agree. I should have used the fill flash for this one. Thank you so much for taking the time everyone.
I prefer the pano crop too. I agree about the shadow but I do like this flight shot!
Most of my suggestions have already been made so I'll just add that in my experience (which isn't vast with TUVUs) a bright overcast is often the easiest condition in which to avoid harsh shadows.