Craig Brelsford
05-13-2011, 09:19 AM
The sight of the forest wagtail filled Old Money (a photographer friend of mine) and me with birding zeal. Old Money and I were on the dirt track running through the Magic Forest near the East China Sea in Yangkou, Jiangsu. While Old Money collapsed the legs of his tripod, I outflanked the wagtail by going off-road through the forest. I reached my position and hit the dirt. Like infantrymen, Old Money and I closed in from opposite ends. At a distance of about 15 m I stopped crawling. The wagtail was moving my way. At 11.9 m, the bird took a short flight. I captured the first full downbeat. Dendronanthus indicus is a bird of East Asia. As the name implies, forest wagtails spend most of their time in wooded areas, usually on the ground. A flight shot of one is no common achievement, if I may say so. By lying on my belly and striking, snakelike, just as the bird took off, I've put you smack-dab in the wagtail's world.
Device: Nikon D3S
Lens: VR 600mm F/4G
Focal Length: 600mm
Aperture: F/5.0
Shutter Speed: 1/4000
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Exposure Comp.: +0.33
ISO Sensitivity: ISO 2500
Subject Distance: 11.9 m
Photoshoppery: Not much. Noise reduction on OOF BG. Sharpening of parts in focus. I decided on a strongly horizontal crop to eliminate the OOF foreground and to heighten the sense of lowness to the ground.
Device: Nikon D3S
Lens: VR 600mm F/4G
Focal Length: 600mm
Aperture: F/5.0
Shutter Speed: 1/4000
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Exposure Comp.: +0.33
ISO Sensitivity: ISO 2500
Subject Distance: 11.9 m
Photoshoppery: Not much. Noise reduction on OOF BG. Sharpening of parts in focus. I decided on a strongly horizontal crop to eliminate the OOF foreground and to heighten the sense of lowness to the ground.