AP • Irrelevant and out of place… but I can't resist!

[Kodiak]

•

 

 

For months, I've been trying to get some decent

shots of a Hooded Crow with no luck. From figu-

ring out better locations to ultimately baiting these

far too clever birds, attempts were in vain every time!

 

That afternoon, I was mentoring a photo club from

Graz and I was not going to lose that chance. In the

middle of an explanation of a difficult camera setup

shooting strategy, this fellow decided to rest on a

pretty close by twig… at a perfect distance from the

lens to get full frame takes of it. I stopped everything,

rushed behind the camera, aimed and shot these.

 

The club members were puzzled a bit… they had their

backs to the scene. Given the camouflage colours of

its plumage, it was very hard for them to see what I

was looking at though the lens was clearly indicating

the direction.

 

Usual 600mƒ4 @ ƒ8 on D810 combo

 

C&C welcomed

1

 

2

 

3

 

4

 

5

 

AP was used to remove a piece of this black and yellow plastic

ribbon Wildlife Services are using on trees at times!

 

[Charlychuck]

Number 5 is my favourite from this set. Really nice light and fantastic pose. Top pic.

[MEB]

Beautiful shots Kodiak. I agree with Charlychuck, the last one is fantastic. Thanks for sharing.

[SrPx]

Very nice.   :)

(specially the last one. As a person who draws, the last one would give me a lot of information on details and volume, thanks to the light, probably)

[Kodiak]

Charlychuck, MEB, & SrPx

 

•

Thank you gentlemen!

 

Charlychuck's got it right! It is all in the pose… as the light

is the same everywhere.

 

There is a great difficulty capturing subjects with such pitch

black surfaces: details may be revealed only through specific

light incidences so to take at least advantage of the specular

element on the surface of the feathers thus showing the details

SrPx was referring to.

 

Yes, the last take IS the one with the most specular details!

 

I appreciate you took the time to comment!   ;)