After much night-time searching we found this small nightjar resting in the dried mud of a tire rut, in Kutch, Gujarat, India. I hand held the camera as I laid on my stomach. Would have loved to remove that one hunk of mud at the base of the bird. I just used the flash on the camera. These birds have amazing whiskers on their faces!
Canon 7D, Canon EF400 mm f4 DO IS, 1/50, f5.6, ISO 400
Not too many of us have seen this one before :) When using flash as main light as you did here (assuming that this image was created at night), working on a tripod is recommended for the sharpest results (though you did fairly well here).
Was this with the built-in flash?
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Very neat. I love how the bill is so tiny, yet the gaping mouth is huge on these species. You did well, even despite that small clump of mud. Did you need to work on the eye? Many times "steel-eye" is quite heavy under these circumstances - either you managed not to get one, or you fixed it nicely in PS.
Peter, yes now that I can actually see what I got, a little higher would have certainly helped with that clump of mud. It just occurred to me that a head-lamp would have been a good idea so I could see what I was doing. Sometimes I think I only have a very short time to get the photo and take my chances!
Artie, yes I used the built-in flash and the image was created at night. A tripod would have been a good idea or I should have thought to use the bean bag I had in the car .
Daniel, Amazingly I had no problem with steel-eye, although I did get a series of images with a deep red pupil when the bird slightly turned its head. With this image I did not have to do anything to the eye.
Thank you all very much for your helpful comments. I never really thought about photographing birds in the dark before this one.
The reason that I advise the use of a tripod with flash as main light is so that you can be 100% sure that the camera is in the same exact spot as when you focused..... Motion blur is not a problem with flash as main light..... That little flash sure is powerful enough at close range.
BIRDS AS ART Blog: great info and lessons, lots of images with our legendary BAA educational Captions; we will not sell you junk. 30+ years of long lens experience/e-mail with gear questions.
BIRDS AS ART Online Store: we will not sell you junk. 35 years of long lens experience. Please e-mail with gear questions.
Check out the new SONY e-Guide and videos that I did with Patrick Sparkman here. Ten percent discount for BPN members,
Syke's Nightjar
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