"NO!!! Focus on the Bird! Not the foreground! THE BIRD!"
Last week I shared the story of the shot I "Almost" had for our wall as well as a series of images taken during the "Second Chance Round" when the other eagle of the pair took pity on me. Today I thought it would be fun to show the entire series of images from that second attempt mingled with a little color commentary. Here we go...
Dateline: Monday, April 2, 2012
Eagle River, WI
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| 1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO 1100 @ 500mm |
"Ah, FINALLY some sunshine after 4 days of gloom. To bad we go home today. There you are pretty girl. How are you doing this fine morning? What do you think about maybe helping me out a little here? Throw me a bone and give me something to shoot at before we have to leave..."
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| 1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO 1000 @ 500mm |
Time: 8:36:08 AM
"Oh, crap! There she goes! Ha, Ha! I'm ready this time. Center of the frame? Check. Pan. Click. Pan. Click. Keep panning... Come on auto focus, wake up...."
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| 1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO 1800 @ 500mm |
Time: 8:36:09 AM
"I've still got you! Keep coming... keep coming. Pan. Click. Pan. Click. Camera's drifting down a little. You know what, this thing is pretty heavy. If I shot this lens with any regularity, I'd really need to invest in a good monopod. Hey! Wake up! Day dream later!..... Ok...Get her back in the center. Give yourself some buffer. Why is she all blurry? That pine tree behind her looks awesome though. Can never have enough shots of pine trees. Come on auto focus, come on ...."
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| 1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO 220 @ 500mm |
Time: 8:36:11 AM
"Ok. Ok. Ok. Going up above the tree line. Stay on her. Stay on her. Pan. Click. Pan. Click. Take it easy on the shutter, buddy. Save that precious buffer for when you need it. Ha, Ha. seven frames per second... how lucky am I? Do people really spend hundreds of dollars for faster memory cards?.... Pan. Click. Pan. Click. Come back this way, girl. Don't be taking off down river on me. Oh man! Look at that light. Sweet GLORIOUS light! Now we're talkin! I've got you right where I want you now! And way to go auto focus! I knew you could do it..."
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| 1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO 220 @ 500mm |
Time: 8:36:12 AM
"Hey! That's a pretty good shot! Nice cinematic crop will look good.. show off that impressive wingspan. And those eyes. How beaut.... Wait! She sees something! I think she sees som......"
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| 1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO 400 @ 500mm |
"HERE WE GO! HOLY CRAP! IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN! Don't lose her now..... ah man, PAN! CLICK! PAN! CLICK! PAN! STAY ON THE BIRD! Where'd that light go! Come on AF! Come on!"
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| 1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO 400 @ 500mm |
"I am NOT going to lose you now! Keep panning! CLICK. CLICK. CLICK. PAN. CLICK. PAN. CLICK. CLICK. Dude, you're laying on the shutter release! Save some! How far are we from the water anyway? STAY ON THE BIRD!"
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| 1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO 560 @ 500mm |
"Who in the hell put a house right in the middle of this photo? Man! Look at the drumsticks on that bird! I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of those talons. Whew! What a great pose. Too bad about the house though. Did you know peregrine falcons can reach speeds in excess of 200 mph when in a dive? I wonder if there's any of those sausage patties left for breakfast? Sure am glad she isn't going that fast or I'd never keep up... FOCUS!"
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| 1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO 500 @ 500mm |
"I can see the river bank now and, hey, whatta know, that's almost in focus. Nasty shadow from her wing though. I wonder if I'll be able to lighten that up in Lightroom? PAY ATTENTION! PAN. CLICK. CLICK. PAN. CLICK. PAN. CLICK. CLICK... Is this really going to happen?"
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| 1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO 900 @ 500mm |
Time: 8:36:14 AM
"TOUCHDOWN!!!!!!! NOW! LAY ON THAT SHUTTER RELEASE! CLICK. CLICK.CLICK. CLICK. PAN. CLICK. CLICK. CLICK. PAN.....Wait. Where's the focus? WHERE IN THE 'H' 'E' DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS IS THE FOCUS?!?!?!"
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| 1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO 900 @ 500mm |
"NOT THE GRASS YOU PIECE OF #@!#$! THE BIRD! THE BIRD! THE #@!$%'n BIRD! FOCUS! FOCUS! FOCUS!"
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| 1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO 720 @ 500mm |
"Alright. Deep breath. Let's just take a 1/1000 of a second for myself here. Regroup. What am I doing wrong? Well, you're drifting down a little bit. Yeah, I know, but this thing really is sort of heavy with this monster 150-500mm you know. Quit your whining you big baby. I'm not whining. I'm just saying... Is you a man or is you a mouse? This really isn't helping. Let's run down the checklist quick. Shutter speed? Check. Aperture? Well, if you opened it all the way up.... Hmm. What do you mean open it up all the way? The light's decent. Auto ISO is still only at 720. What's wrong with that? Well, you know. I'm just saying... By the way, did you notice those two ducks in the upper right a few frames back? I think they're laughing at you. You know, the one where your horizon line is all kittywampus? And another thing... TIME'S UP! Oh yeah, right! CLICK. CLICK. CLICK. CLICK."
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| 1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO 720 @ 500mm |
"There we go! Now things are coming into focus. Another beautiful, sharp shot of marsh grass. That's going to look great hanging on the wall next to that shot of that pine tree from earlier. Too bad there's that distracting blurry eagle in the background."
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| 1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO 560 @ 500mm |
"Another awesome shot of the grass. I'm thinking maybe a nice triptych... grass, tree, grass? And what if we converted them to black and white? Maybe apply some cool filters or something? Oooooo... artsy! Hate to say I told you so, but if you'd just lift the camera up a little... Ah, leave me alone. I'm admiring the grass."
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| 1/1000 sec, f/8, ISO 560 @ 500mm |
"PAN. CLICK. There! I've lifted the camera back up. You happy? Well, if you'd have focused on her head...and of course there's no fish... Oh, shut up!
Well, THAT was exciting! I wonder how many of these are going to turn out? Think we got any keepers? Do you really think there are a few of those breakfast sausages left? Those were really good."
And there you have it. The full seven seconds in all its glory. ;-)
Until next time, keep click'n.
-Ken
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