California Condor #77

I know this is not a knock-'em-dead bird shot, but I post it for tworeasons:

1. It was an exciting moment seeing an endangered species, and Iwanted to share that excitement with you all.

2. I was hoping that some of you avid bird photographers could give meconstructive tips on how to do this better. (This is the second timeI've tried shooting a moving bird.)

Kudos to Chuck Babbit for his incredible condor pictures on here... ifhe's around and want to weigh in, all the better.

Hi Judith,

even thought this isnt, as you say, a knock 'em dead photo you have done some things well. first you havee got the whole bird in the frame. This looks as though it might be a bigger crop? The thing is that there is very little if any, details on the underpart of the bird. This can be fixed two ways. Always try to shoot a moving bird with the sun lower in the sky and behind you so the details will be visible. Also you need the ambient light oon the darker parts to help balance the exposure between highlights and shadows. It looks here like the ligh was directly overhead, hence a lit head and dark underbody.

also would help to know what equipment you are shooting with, this is VERY important to beginning to take good bird in flight photos:)

David,

Thank you for your thoughtful critique and suggestions. I really appreciate them. The equipment I was using for the shot is outlined under "Technical Details:" A 40D, 70-200mm f/2.8 lens all the way out. You're right that the image was cropped. I would've needed the 100-400 to have the bird fill the frame in the original shot. Something to put on the Christmas list, I guess!

Thanks for the tips about the lighting and so forth!

Love,

Judith