Thursday, December 13, 2007
Red-shouldered Hawk on Iron Post
The kind of portrait I'm more comfortable with. I'd much prefer to see a natural perch, but these birds seem to prefer to hunt from a man-made one -- perhaps for the stability. It does have an up-side, since it puts them closer to the road where they can be photographed while using the vehicle as a blind (hide).
Permalink / posted by and copyright of Christina : 10:40 PM
Comments:
You have just got to stop doing this. I've told you I don't like bird & bug pictures and you keep producing images that undermine my prejudice! :-) At least it isn't a Lilac Crested Roller.
It is however just about perfect. Sharp, beautifully lit, excellent background, don't mind the perch, eye catchlight.............
I know, Rex, and I'm sorry -- I do try to keep this kind of image out of here most of the time, but I figure once in awhile doesn't hurt. ;-)
This is a bit static, but I liked the light and background. Another image from the prairie.
The combination of detail and beauty in these bug and bird pictures is making me rethink landscape photography.
Never mind the bird, you are a master of the background.
The perch is, I think, good like this. I'm imagining a behaviour pattern like the common buzzard (buteo buteo) - fence posts, telecoms poles, road signs: these are all part of their natural environment and such good hunting stations.
Given that most of nature is contingent on man's impact it would be unnatural to seek out a perch that wasn't man-made. Colin quotes the buzzard: round us they love everything that gives them a vantage point when there are no trees around (more of man's impact!).
So, to break my normal behaviour and analyse the composition, this is a clever way to use the turned head to achieve the compositional norm.
Shots like these require time, patience and understanding of the subject matter - the first two of which are in short supply for me!
I am not sure it is right to consider ourselves like not part of Nature. We interact with it, modify it, for sure, but to me we are part of Nature and what we do becomes so too. As Christina noticed, apparently the hawk agrees, at least about the perch :-)
of course, this photo is a joy to look at. You consistently manage to find and express beauty while avoiding pointless prettiness.
This is wonderful! Agree with whats alreday been said, the bird, the background and the social commentary about the man-made post make this a great image. Others re-think landscape, I find myself re-thinking color. Very nice.
It is static but you can see life in the bird through its eye. I, like Doug, am rethinking colour for a couple of projects. I shot recently in Kyoto solely in colour and it was a challenge to get pleasing results. You manage to line up the colours so well. Compositionally I'm curious as to the positioning in the frame of the bird. I'd have put the bird much more to the left giving it more room to look into. A good example of understanding the 'rules' and then choosing to break them with good results.
Guy -- I'm aware of that compositional "rule", but usually go with what looks right to me. In this case, the bird's body is facing forward, and though the head is turned backward, it seems to be looking out towards the viewer, so a position closer to center made more sense to me.
Also I don't think I had much more to the left. The hawk turned its head constantly looking for prey (yes, like your buteo buteo), so I was keeping it pretty close to the center of the frame. Of the eleven shots I got before it left the perch, only two included this head angle, with this being the best of those.
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It is however just about perfect. Sharp, beautifully lit, excellent background, don't mind the perch, eye catchlight.............
This is a bit static, but I liked the light and background. Another image from the prairie.
The perch is, I think, good like this. I'm imagining a behaviour pattern like the common buzzard (buteo buteo) - fence posts, telecoms poles, road signs: these are all part of their natural environment and such good hunting stations.
So, to break my normal behaviour and analyse the composition, this is a clever way to use the turned head to achieve the compositional norm.
Shots like these require time, patience and understanding of the subject matter - the first two of which are in short supply for me!
of course, this photo is a joy to look at. You consistently manage to find and express beauty while avoiding pointless prettiness.
Also I don't think I had much more to the left. The hawk turned its head constantly looking for prey (yes, like your buteo buteo), so I was keeping it pretty close to the center of the frame. Of the eleven shots I got before it left the perch, only two included this head angle, with this being the best of those.