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Thread: Drumming Ruffed Grouse - 2

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    BPN Member Steve Maxson's Avatar
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    Default Drumming Ruffed Grouse - 2

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    Another view of the drumming performance. The grouse is now well into the sequence and the wings are moving rapidly - I did not try to stop the movement and I prefer the motion blur. Despite all the flapping, note that the head, feet, and part of the belly remain motionless. 7D, 500 mm f/4, 1/60, f/4.5, ISO 400, tripod, photographed from a blind. I toned down the brighter areas of the background and ran nr on the background. All comments are welcome and appreciated.

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    Avian Moderator Randy Stout's Avatar
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    Steve:

    Looks like his best hummingbird imitation. Amazing that all the flapping doesn't make the head move!
    This is a story best told with multiple frames, to show the various forms of the behaviour.

    AS before, love the rich colors on his log,his angle in frame.

    I might do a bit more toning down of the gray area on extreme left of the frame.

    Cheers, really a neat series.


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    very nice work, I would add more room to the right
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    Steve, I wouldn't do a thing to this image. I absolutely love it the way it is. It is totally different than what we normally see with avian photography. I love the slow motion of the wings. The perch is very effective and a nice contrast to the bird. The bird's head is sharp. Wish it were mine.
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    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    Spectacular. How many in the series? How many with a very sharp head like this one?

    To what do you attribute the sharpness of the head and the belly.

    Love the soft light and colors.
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    BPN Member Steve Maxson's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Arthur Morris View Post
    Spectacular. How many in the series? How many with a very sharp head like this one?

    To what do you attribute the sharpness of the head and the belly.

    Love the soft light and colors.
    Thanks for the comments folks.

    Artie: I took photos during a number of drums as the sun was rising and for a short period thereafter before the light quickly deteriorated due to the mix of sun and shadows. A drum typically lasts for about 7-8 seconds and is repeated every few minutes. These grouse have a remarkable ability to hold their head and body essentially motionless while rapidly beating their wings - this accounts for the sharpness of the head and belly - the breast feathers are blurred because they are being blown around by the wingbeats. Having said this, not all my shots at these rather low shutter speeds were sharp on the eye - I would attribute that to operator error more than to movement of the bird. Near the end of the drum as wing speed reaches its peak, the bird will lean forward slightly and this minor movement can also contribute to soft heads at low ss. As the light (and ss) increased, the proportion of sharp heads increased. At ss of 1/20 - 1/60 the wing position, though blurred, will be different in each frame and it becomes a matter of choosing images with pleasing blurs.

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    Quite an incredible shot Steve. Loved the blur a lot....stating the obvious here....much more impact than the last one. Thx for the information.

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    Seeing this kind of display/behaviour is on my bucket-list. Thanks for posting and for all the additional information. Making a triptych almost seems like a must. congrats!

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    Fantastic Steve! Great depiction of drumming behaviour. I frequently hear Ruffed Grouse drumming in my area, but have yet to find a stump / perch that they visit reliably. Well done.

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    Lifetime Member Stu Bowie's Avatar
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    Steve, good show of the wing blur here, with the head staying still and sharp. I also like how the blurred wings blend into the BG. Of course, the coloured moss adds interest. I like this lots.

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    Lovely shot I would like to see a little more space around the bird - both left and right - a really first class image but for me just a little tight in the frame.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Maxson View Post
    Thanks for the comments folks.

    Artie: I took photos during a number of drums as the sun was rising and for a short period thereafter before the light quickly deteriorated due to the mix of sun and shadows. A drum typically lasts for about 7-8 seconds and is repeated every few minutes. These grouse have a remarkable ability to hold their head and body essentially motionless while rapidly beating their wings - this accounts for the sharpness of the head and belly - the breast feathers are blurred because they are being blown around by the wingbeats. Having said this, not all my shots at these rather low shutter speeds were sharp on the eye - I would attribute that to operator error more than to movement of the bird. Near the end of the drum as wing speed reaches its peak, the bird will lean forward slightly and this minor movement can also contribute to soft heads at low ss. As the light (and ss) increased, the proportion of sharp heads increased. At ss of 1/20 - 1/60 the wing position, though blurred, will be different in each frame and it becomes a matter of choosing images with pleasing blurs.
    Thanks for the explanation Steve. I should have asked: were you using AI Servo? What sensor?

    In either case, did you hold the shutter button down during the flaps. (All of my question have a point; I will get there soon.) :)
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    BPN Member Steve Maxson's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Arthur Morris View Post
    Thanks for the explanation Steve. I should have asked: were you using AI Servo? What sensor?

    In either case, did you hold the shutter button down during the flaps. (All of my question have a point; I will get there soon.) :)
    Artie - I used AI servo and the top sensor (Spot AF) which I could place on the eye and get a good comp. IS was turned off. The tripod with wimberley head was locked down. I used a cable release (I normally don't with this setup) which worked well for single shots, but I think was a mistake for bursts of multiple shots as some minor vibrations were introduced which degraded some of the images (I wasn't resting my hand on top of the lens as I would normally do).

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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Maxson View Post
    Artie - I used AI servo and the top sensor (Spot AF) which I could place on the eye and get a good comp. IS was turned off. The tripod with wimberley head was locked down. I used a cable release (I normally don't with this setup) which worked well for single shots, but I think was a mistake for bursts of multiple shots as some minor vibrations were introduced which degraded some of the images (I wasn't resting my hand on top of the lens as I would normally do).
    Why IS turned off? Good on locking up the tripod. I never use a cable release; as you infer, holding onto the camera and lens adds mass and increases sharpness.

    Lastly, my main point for folks is that in such situations my biggest recommendation would be to absolutely hold the shutter button down when the action occurs thus increasing the odds of getting a few sharp ones. I think that movement of the bird was a much bigger factor in the unsharp images than operator error.... Most folks do not realize that when top pros are making images of living wildlife that the biggest reason for deleting images is unsharpness, the % depending of course on the situation.

    BTW, mirror slap should not be much of a factor at 1/60 sec. and higher.
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    BPN Member Steve Maxson's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Arthur Morris View Post
    Why IS turned off? Good on locking up the tripod. I never use a cable release; as you infer, holding onto the camera and lens adds mass and increases sharpness.

    Lastly, my main point for folks is that in such situations my biggest recommendation would be to absolutely hold the shutter button down when the action occurs thus increasing the odds of getting a few sharp ones. I think that movement of the bird was a much bigger factor in the unsharp images than operator error.... Most folks do not realize that when top pros are making images of living wildlife that the biggest reason for deleting images is unsharpness, the % depending of course on the situation.

    BTW, mirror slap should not be much of a factor at 1/60 sec. and higher.
    Thanks for the feedback Artie.

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    Brilliant. The sharp head and wing blur looks great. Love it.

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    Wow!! Love the motion in the wings yet keeping the head and eye sharp. Well done.

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    Wow!!!

    This is excellent shot with amazing details and beautiful light.

    Thanks for sharing.

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    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    YAW. Still curious about the IS off but not gonna argue with the spectacular results....
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    BPN Member Steve Maxson's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Arthur Morris View Post
    YAW. Still curious about the IS off but not gonna argue with the spectacular results....
    Artie - My normal mode is to always have IS on with this lens. Because I was planning to shoot with a cable release at low ss with the tripod locked up at a stationary subject (the bird's head), I thought I would try turning IS off - thinking that it wouldn't really help. This may have been a mistake. My plan was to go back to the blind and try again with IS on and without the cable release - but poor weather, my schedule, and the winding down of the drumming season conspired against me. I did eventually get back, but the bird did not return to the log and other drummers within earshot were drumming less intensively and only sporadically once it became light. I'll try again next year.

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    Publisher Arthur Morris's Avatar
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    Thanks Steve. We are on the same page. I often consider using epoxy to set IS Mode 2 permanently on all of my big lenses :).
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    Its beautiful Steve.. what setting here too..

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