There are a few hawks that frequent my backyard and I hear them just about every day. The problem is that if (and when) they do ever fly in and land, they either land on a fence or up high in the trees with a thousand branches around and behind them. There is no separation which makes it hard to get a good photo, or a photo without an ugly “cookie cutter” suburbia fence in it.
Well, I heard the hawk last week so I ran out with the camera and it was fairly low, but still high enough that I couldn’t get a good angle on it without a bunch of branches and cluttered background. I stood in my yard for a solid 20 minutes, thinking maybe it’ll see something in my yard and go after it, or maybe get a good takeoff shot… or anything for that matter – other than it just sitting there.
Well, it never happened. Instead I got a few gigabytes full of nuttin’. I have never subscribed to the saying “A good photographer can make a good photo anywhere”. I never thought that was true. I’ve always thought more along the lines that… a good photographer knows how to walk away from a shoot and realizes that they should immediately delete every photo from that shoot, and not spend any more of their valuable time on it. To me, that is a good photographer 🙂
And that’s basically just what I did except the photo I shared in this post. Even then, I edited it, saved it as a JPG and deleted all the raw files from this 20 minutes, because they’ll never see the light of day again. Some people may think you could clean up the branches in Photoshop, or try to save the photo – but it is not a good photo. The light is poor, the background is distracting and no amount of Photoshop will help turn this poor photo in to a great (or even good) one.
But hey… it was fun watching the hawk in the tree for a while 🙂 Enjoy!
I love teaching and photography... In that order. I feel that enjoying photography, and photo editing can get WAY too complicated. So my personal mission (and favorite thing to do), is to create education that simplifies the process of taking great photos, and how to edit them to get the results you’ve always wanted.
Thank you for this entry Matt! I can’t tell you how many days I’ve done this exact same thing and it’s comforting hearing of the shared experience. It’s also inspired me to STOP hanging on to all the photos and just let them go. (There are oh so many that I’ve viewed thru the same lens…”Well maybe if I clear the branches, or creatively crop, or…yadda yadda yadda”. It’s time to give up the personal challenge I’ve assigned myself to make something out of nothing thru creative post-processing. I think it was Yoda who said, ‘There is no good, only bad shots in this bunch. Delete you must young padawan. (Although also like you, I did get a few good shots, one worthy enough for adding to the FB group for thoughts. I haven’t posted anything yet but can’t get better w/o feedback so…]
Thank you again for your unending inspiration.
And I’m with Omar…I’m absolutely convinced they know when you are watching them!
I have learned that Hawks kind of know when you are watching, let alone trying to photograph them. They also perch in the worse possible places so you just give up and leave them alone. And that’s only when they let you even try to get a good shot. I have been trying to get more than decent photo of Hawks for years now. Gotta’ keep trying, what else are you supposed to do?! It is a treat every time I get to observe these guys, they are some of my favorites.
I actually love the Hawks in amongst the trees – this is a great shot and certainly generated some interesting reading. Photography during Covid lockdowns has been a life saver- just being able to sit quietly and watch birds and yes, get that shot, has been a life saver from the insanity around me.
As I was going through hard drives, my memories linked to each photograph return and bring such joy and often a smile about that time.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge- and most of all thank you Matt for adding to my daily joy!
Liz – WhistlersWildThings.com
I have almost no clear shots of the particular hawk you have there, which looks to me to be a Red-shouldered Hawk. They strike me as more shy than other buteos, and perhaps a bit more vocal, so I often have the frustration of hearing them without a good photo opp. I look for them perched high, often in tangles. Tough subject!
Matt, are you in the Northeast? Near a marshy area? That’s good habitat for them.
As you can probably guess, I started out as a birder before I started taking photographs. The time spene reviewing the throwaway photos helps me appreciate the birds as individuals, so I consider the time not totally wasted.
November is a pretty dead birding month all around too. Too early for the wintering birds in southern NJ where I live, but migration is over. If I get one half-decent shot in November, that’s about what I expect.
Hi Susan. I live in sunny Tampa FL. But I did grow up in New Jersey 🙂
About the time you were writing this blog post, I was at Conowingo Dam shooting the bald eagles that migrate through every year around November. When I arrived at about 5:30 am, there were already more than 35 tripods lined up along the fence just downriver from the spillway. At some points there must have been well overb100 photographers and this was on a cold, damp, cloudy day. By 3:30 pm, the sun had dropped behind the ridge and the light was too low to keep shooting.
I shot about 3,600 frames over those 10 hours and might have 10-15 keepers to show for it. Nothing as spectacular as your shot of the eagles fighting that greets me every time I open deNoise, but clear, decent action shots all the same.
Your courses have helped, and so has advice from anonymous photographers acquired during my two trips (so far) this year to Conowingo, some great tips from Jason Etzel at Sony, some time spent looking at other people’s photos and listening to critiques, and not nearly enough practice.
One thing I’ve learned from all this is to feel more comfortable about quickly trashing the 3,000+ non-keepers, some of which, yes, I could “salvage” with 5 or 10 or 20 hours of PhotoShopping, but why would I want to do that when the end result would be mediocre and I’ve got better in my portfolio now?
Another lesson is perseverance: I could have left Conowingo after 2 hours or 5 or 7, but I got the keepers around 2 or 2:30 pm, so I would have missed them. Dedicating that amount of time is a luxury, no question, and I’m very fortunate to be at a point in my (non-photography) career where I can get away with that occasionally.
So, yeah, I’m with you: The hawk is a throwaway. And it’s comforting to know that even the pros sometimes “get nuttin,’” which is just a good reason to get out there & try again.
About the time you were writing this blog post, I was at Conowingo Dam shooting the bald eagles that migrate through every year around November. When I arrived at about 5:30 am, there were already more than 35 tripods lined up along the fence just past the spillway. At some points there must have been well over 100 photographers and this was on a cold, damp, cloudy day. By 3:30 pm, the sun had dropped behind the ridge and the light was too low to keep shooting.
I shot about 3,600 frames over those 10 hours and might have 10-15 keepers to show for it. Nothing as spectacular as your shot of the eagles fighting the greets me every time I open deNoise, but clear, decent action shots all the same.
Your courses have helped, and so has advice from anonymous photographers from my two trips (so far) this year to Conowingo, some great tips from Jason Etzel at Sony, some time spent looking at other photos and listening to critiques, and not nearly enough practice.
One thing I’ve learned from all this is to feel more comfortable quickly trashing the 3,000+ non-keepers, some of which, yes, I could “salvage” with 5 or 10 or 20 hours of PhotoShopping, but why would I want to do that when the end result would be mediocre and I’ve got better in my portfolio now?
Another lesson is perseverance: I could have left Conowingo after 2 hours or 5 or 7, but I got the keepers around 2 or 2:30 pm, so I would have missed them. Dedicating that amount of time is a luxury, no question, and I’m very fortunate to be at a pint in my (non-photography) career where I can get away with that occasionally.
So, yeah, I’m with you: The hawk is a throwaway. And it’s comforting to know that even the pros sometimes “get nuttin,’” which is just a good reason to get out there & try again.
The Hawk is nice and clear-great photo. Yes, but now I know that the background will not pass muster in my photo club. After taking your Bird Photography course I get it. Your course was just what I needed to improve my photos of Falcons and Eagles. The thing is I have realized that the Falcons I shot Feb 2021 through Aug 2021 and I don’t want to wait for them to nest again in Feb. I saw them mating, nesting and attacking other birds, doing the “stoop”, stealing food and got shots of it all! Got some great shots with luck and just being there! Now I want more and your course has improved my chances of getting what I want. I have one shot of a Falcon that got the attention of my Photo club ( I almost didn’t put it in) and everywhere I post it. I had another one which I thought was better but this is the one is the real eye catcher. Now I realize why. If you have another critique submission time, I will send it for your advice. I think I know what you will say! Thanks.
I think the hawk looks great. Very ‘hawkish’ looking 🙂 But, why does the bokeh look strange? What caused that?
Hi Bob. It’s a combo of a very cluttered background with leaves, branches and thousands of tiny pine needle-like textures and some wind. That is why this photo is not a success. The background is so cluttered it is distracting. Thanks.
Great photo! And for a little chuckle, when I point to the picture, Pinterest offers to save it for me, in my category called “Soup.” Ha!
Hey Matt:
It looks pretty good to me! If this is your final “product,” just think what those with less skill, patience and temperament would have gotten.
PS – I think that hawk has a great pose and look at that beak!
When all I see are cardinals, blue jays, and chickadees in my backyard, I’d be happy to get that hawk shot you got! May not be one of your best, but still is lovely.