Sandhill Crane and Moon

This image was taken earlier this month, two days after the full

moon and our last couple of hours at the Bosque Del Apach NW refuge.

It is a straight shot and not a digital composite. The moon set was

well after sunrise, which resulted in it being slightly muted. This

also provided enough light to illuminate a bird, as well as freeze

its motion without panning. Panning with the birds and freezing the

moon may have also been possible, but would not give me enough focus

control to ensure everything remained in focus and it would have

also proved difficult to control the composition.

I locked the composition on the tripod, without a bird in the frame,

and manually focused on the foreground. Not having my hyper focal

distance chart with me, I used the DOF preview button to ensure that

the moon would be in focus, while keeping a reasonable working

distance for a bird to fly into the frame. I knew my working area,

and would not shoot if a bird flew outside of that. Since the wind

was calm most of the birds were taking off, and flying, well below

the distant mountains. Moving further away from the take-off

location gave me a better chance of getting a bird above the

mountains. Each time a bird, or birds, would fly into the viewfinder

I would hold down the shutter button and let it rip (thanks to

digital). Never being sure of the optimal wing-position of the

subject, I used my 1D, instead of my 10D, because I knew the 8FPS

would give me a much better chance at getting what I wanted. I

filled a card and will be keeping just a few images, including this

one. I have others with multiple birds, but they are smaller in the

frame. This one was right at the threshold of being outside my

working area. Comments welcomed

You might want to put just a little more thought into it next time, Greg. :)

Great job! Your hard work and detail in thought paid well.

Brilliant shot. I love the way you have detailed how you got the picture. While I would love to get a photo like this myself, I doubt I would have your patience. The only way I would get a shot like this is if I was lucky.

Congratulations.

Hi Greg. Great picture. It is beautiful and must had been a great sacrifice to achieve.

You know what would be nice? Maybe you could post the entire frame bursting sequence. I am very curious to see the other non-keeper shots.

Best Regards