Here’s an interesting one I haven’t seen before. I was out shooting (with some new friends, Glee and Robert Finnegan) at Fort Desoto the other morning. We saw the Reddish Egrets doing their thing for well over an hour, but eventually it flew away and the light got pretty harsh. So we stopped by the pier on the way out because the action there can be amazing. You’re always battling the manmade backgrounds which is a problem, but still… every once in a while you get that amazing action shot and either the man-made stuff isn’t part of the photo or you can crop/clone it out.
Well, we saw some Snowies sitting on top of an ugly sun shelter looking thing on the pier (in the summer heat / sun, I’m pretty sure this shelter isn’t so ugly). They weren’t doing anything great, but it was a good chance to practice some in-flight shots as they came and went. But eventually, they all just sat there and didn’t move.
As I was standing there with Glee, I had a thought that goes back to something I used to keep in mind when shooting landscapes. Whenever something is moving in the scene, but the main subject is staying still, consider shooting it with a slower shutter speed. This works great for water, clouds, and fog, as slower shutter speeds give you a really interesting blurry look.
So I gave it a try on the Snowy and WOW! It was so cool! The wind was so strong that the feathers get blown around. But the egret is sitting still (mostly) so it’s sharp. Just like a landscape photo with fog rolling in. Whatever the landscape is would be sharp, but with a longer shutter speed (and a tripod) the fog would be blurry.
How It’s Done
I used my Sony Alpha 1 with the 200-600m lens. I had my camera set to AF-C, though AF-S would have been fine here since it wasn’t moving much. I was using Zone Auto Focus (center position) and the Bird Eye feature was engaged at the time. Though it wouldn’t have made a difference, since the bird wasn’t moving and you could keep a focus point on it easily.
I was on Manual Exposure mode at f/20, Auto ISO which was at 100, and 1/60th sec. and handheld.
If you’re wondering how I got to those settings, it was totally trial and error. I rolled my shutter speed down to around 1/250th. The feathers still weren’t blurry enough. So I went slower and slower. But… as I used a slower shutter speed (letting more light in), I started to over-expose the photo since my Aperture was still wide open at f/6.3. So then I raised the aperture setting to f/20 (letting less light in). At that point I just kept making the shutter speed slower and slower until I got to 1/60th, which I thought looked good.
Now… At 1/60th while hand-holding my 200-600mm lens, I ended up with mostly blurry photos. I just can’t hand hold steady at that shutter speed with that big of a lens on (yes even with image stabilization on). And I don’t typically take my tripod with me to Ft Desoto, as it does more harm than good (for me personally).
But I kept shooting knowing that it only takes one shot – and I knew one would be in focus because I braced myself on the railing behind me. I took over 400 photos doing this, and this shot is the only one that won’t get deleted 🙂
Post processing was done in Lightroom for exposure, cropping, color and toning corrections.
As always my editing is covered in my Wildlife Editing Secrets Course. Also, you can find links to all of my gear, computers, hard drives, etc… over on the Gear page which can be clicked on in the top menu (or just click here). And it’s always appreciated if you use the links on that page (even if you’re not purchasing that specific item) when buying anything. It doesn’t cost you a penny and it’ll help me out a bit ?
And if you want to learn more about actually photographing the birds, check out my “Guide to Bird Photography”. People absolutely LOVE this course!
Takeaway Thoughts?
So what’s the point of all this? Well, it was just fun to experiment and do something different, that I think actually ended up with a cool shot. The light was mostly harsh, but at our back, so not too bad or shadowy. The birds weren’t doing anything amazing – but we still came away with a unique photo that’s very sharable, and I think that’s what it’s all about.
Thanks!
I’m going to have to try that. I don’t use long exposure enough so this article will inspire me to try it on some birds next time I go out.
That is such a cool shot. I’ve never thought of trying to fo that before. I do it with leaves on trees. But I always think of birds moving too much for this but large birds do sit still for long periods.
I am so inspired to go out and try this out on my next bird photography trip.
Thanks for writing about this.
Sincerely,
Kyle Reynolds
https://krnaturalphoto.com/
Thanks for thinking outside the box in this situation Matt! But that’s what sets you apart from many other teachers!!!!
Hi Matt, that was a very good article, something we all should try when given the chance. If nothing else it will help me understand the exposure triangle a lot better. Thanks for sharing.
Semper Fi,
Joe W.
Great time taking photos of Snowy Egrets just sitting there on a boring, ugly roof in the wind….the extremely brisk wind. Instead of saying, “oh well, forget it”, you said “oh well, let’s have fun with slow shutter speeds and see if we can get a crisp, sharp face with fuzzy feathers on the head”….or some such.
We all run into less than ideal shooting conditions. Using it as an opportunity in creativity was a very refreshing, enlightening, fun experience.
What I liked about the explanation was basically it laid out how the settings relate to each other in the great circle of light. Some things are easy for me to understand and other things make my head spin. This explanation put an end to the spin, at least for a while.
Definitely something to think about next time the situation presents itself.
Love the photo and the detailed explanation, thanks Matt, a great teacher, as always.
Outstanding photograph!!! thanks for sharing.
Matt , There is something I don’t understand here . how can you get a so sharp picture at this shutter speed? I have taken your bird photography class and try to practice . Even when shooting at 1 /2000 sec , I cannot get sharp pictures with stabilizer on… I use a full frame Canon Mark III 100-400mm lens. I need help
Hi. For this it was just stable hand holding with some help from Image stabilization on the lens.
At 1/2000th all handholding skills are out of the picture since it’s so fast. So I would look at auto focus issues and check what you’re focused on. Good luck!
It is a really interesting photo Matt !! It wasn’t something I thought about trying but going to have to try it know. Thanks as always Matt great information.
Nice to add another technique to the “bag”. Maybe we will get a chance to do this in a couple of weeks. Thanks
Matt ,thanks for sharing. Its your explanation made simple that helps me the most after enjoying your works.
It gives me a starting point to try something similar.
Darlene
“I just can’t hand hold steady at that shutter speed with that big of a lens ”
That’s another good reason to set the camera to fire multiple exposures. You might shoot 3-7 or so frames, but sometimes one of those is when your camera is perfectly still and sharp. The rest you can throw away.