A. Woodcock display

Gallery: AvianPosted April 7, 201092 views3 comments

I had been trying to get a photo of an American woodcock for days and finally succeeded in picking the right spot, the right place and right time. I was sitting on a tree stump steadying my arms somewhat on a woodpile. I only had a window of 7 min for the shoot. Of about 60 photos 10% were usable. The rest were marred by motion artifact. This photo is one of a sequence. For the entire sequence see http://tinyurl.com/ylp5e8d I did some tone correction and lightening with Photoshop and used unsharp mask for sharpening. No noise removal.
Nikon D300 with Nikon 18-200mm lens f/3.5-5.6. 1/10 sec f/5/6. 200mm, ISO 3200. no flash, no EV.

Hilke Breder
Brattleboro, VT

Comments

3 comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on April 7, 2010 at 9:41 AM

More than I got when I went looking for woodcock! Thanks for posting

Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments

Comment posted by Charlie VanTassel on April 7, 2010 at 11:31 AM

A tough subject and you did well with what you had. iso 3200 on the D300 can be somewhat noisy, and it shows here. The only real way to make this experience better will be to borrow a prime lens, or get a lot closer (use a blind), or use a flash. 7 minutes is a lifetime. Most birds only give you 7 seconds. Still, your efforts paid off and a very cool bird indeed.

Registered on October 18, 2006, 644 Posts, 4801 Comments

Comment posted by Hilke Breder on April 8, 2010 at 8:18 PM

Thanks for your comments. A blind would have been impractical as I wasn't sure where the bird would land in a 30 feet corridor of grass. I was lucky in that it came down close to where I was sitting. Yet it then moved further away and was out of reach of my flash. Anyway it was an exciting challenge for me.

Registered on February 9, 2010, 10 Posts, 11 Comments