1 Attachment(s)
Angry sparrow, saddened photographer
Attachment 154691
Canon 7D2, Sigma 150-600 Sport
1600 ISO, 1000@f/6.3, 600mm hand-held
PP was basically auto tone plus a touch of BG darkening, slight crop for composure (didn't have much room with Daddy coming into the picture), and probably some kind of default NR to help kill the last remaining detail in the blurry birds.
This was taken yesterday.
Ok, so I think I had a decent chance to get a good shot here. Instead I ended up with a lot of blur. I had been taking photos of (primarily) Mama Bird feeding the young, waiting for better light to get the ISO down and the shutter speed up. Here I was wide open at 1/1000, with the ISO alternating between 1600 and 3200, so I didn't want to push to SS of 2000 just yet to take BIF photos of the caspian tern that's been at the site the past few days, complete with amazing dive-bombing techniques. Anyway, this male house sparrow stranger starts harassing the nest's female and young, poking his head into the other sparrow's business, meaning the hole in the nest box. What you see is the Nest Daddy's response to that.
It all happened so quickly I didn't have time to adjust. I had pre-focused on the nest box, and since I was basically taking stills of feedings and hoping to see a chick stick its head out, didn't push the SS, as I mentioned.
So, how do other photographers handle this? The first thing I should do, obviously, is get better at NR, but even then when do I push the shutter speed and when do I give the ISO time to settle down? I know a lot of this is camera-dependent, but just wondering how others handle it, having only one camera on-site. I guess my *real* question is would you even think about a high SS here or do these kinds of shots just go missed?
Any tips are appreciated! :)
Mike