Snowy Starling
Dec, 2017Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was taken from my kitchen doorway one early morning in January. The pot is on a stand about 6 feet away and I had been meaning it out because the houseplant had been left too long and killed by the first frost but then I noticed this guy using the snow just like a water bath. I left it for him and he visited every day as long as the snow lasted.Time
This was about 7am, not quite light yet, allowing the blues of the pot to emphasise the blues in the starlingLighting
You could call this truly terrible lighting but everything has its place and the low light, mostly reflecting off the snow allows you to see the gentler mottling of the starling underneath as well as just a hint of the oily black they are famous for. This time of year and day also facilitates the loss of a multi-coloured hedge and ugly garage in the background without having to resort to PS. Not that I have any objection to any firm of image creation, but I’m lazy and it’s one less step.Equipment
Canon 5D mk1 and 300mm prime lens, handheld and braced on the doorframe. I rarely use a tripod for wildlife as you can depend on it to pop up being interesting when you don’t have one. May as well get used to it or miss all the best shotsInspiration
I loved the cheeky way he sat and looked at me as I was the one being strange (he’s probably right). Having said I don’t use a tripod I probably could have with this guy as he really wasn’t in a hurry to leave and posed for me for over 20 mins. This is about midway in a long sequence.Editing
I always shoot RAW so everything gets done post processing but this just needed a touch if sharpening, mainly fir the falling snow rather than the bird and a hint of raising to the shadow because he eyes are so well concealedIn my camera bag
This is quite old now so I no longer use the 5D. It was a fabulous camera for many years though and lives in glorious retirement on a shelf whilst the 5D3 and 1DS are usually somewhere close with a 24-105 on the former and 300mm or 500mm on the latter. I have an unusual advantage in my choice of kit because I’m not very mobile and almost all my images atecrahen at home, from my car or within a few feet of my car. This means that me “bag” can be quite heavy and I usually have both big lenses, extenders, a 70-200mm and a 50mm as well as tripod in case of interesting landscapes or stars. Of course these days I also have the trusty iPhone firmly in hand too.Feedback
Kit is all well and good and whikst this kit may not capture that image and vice versa, all kit will produce something if you learn its capabilities. There’s no point trying for a class bird ID shot that’s too far away for your set up and you’ll probably miss something more appropriate whilst you’re wasting time on it. Spend some time just observing nature - learn how it thinks, develop a feel for where it will be next and get there first. Nature work is the opposite to studio so a realistic approach to the ways of nature combined with your own and your kit’s abilities will bring you all the “luck” with your shots
