Sparrow Hop

Gallery: AvianPosted March 9, 2015194 views7 comments

I spent some time photographing Chipping Sparrows searching for food in the snowy landscape here in Virginia a couple weeks ago, and was able to catch this bird mid-hop as it searched for grass seeds. It's about a 50% crop from the original, but the focus was just right and the shutter speed really high, so the detail is pretty good in my opinion.

Canon 5d Mark iii, 300mm f/2.8 lens w/1.4x teleconverter, 1/2500 sec at f/4, ISO 800

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by Max Waugh on March 9, 2015 at 5:38 PM

I don't get much of a sense of it being airborne here (too bad there wasn't a shadow to help enhance the effect of the "hop"), but regardless I like the minimalist approach to this. I think the inclusion of all that extra canvas below the bird works well too.

Max

Registered on September 26, 2008, 428 Posts, 2329 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Gavin on March 9, 2015 at 5:42 PM

Great pose; nice clarity; and well seen. The perspective is wonderful-the sparrow could be coming right at us out of the snow; in "mid-hop"; attached to a wall; or on a wire, or something similar, which is obscured by snow-and whatever anyone else can see. Very nice.

Registered on August 14, 2008, 293 Posts, 1250 Comments

Comment posted by Allen Brooks on March 9, 2015 at 11:16 PM

Nice high key image. It looks as if the bird is contemplating a jump off a high place. I agree, the detail looks great.

Registered on July 27, 2011, 262 Posts, 2597 Comments

Comment posted by Wayne Jones on March 9, 2015 at 11:35 PM

Simply beautiful high key presentation! No nits at all.

Registered on April 18, 2007, 953 Posts, 6435 Comments

Comment posted by Jerry Austin on March 10, 2015 at 11:23 AM

Love it. No nits from me.

Registered on January 6, 2012, 651 Posts, 3448 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Thompson on March 11, 2015 at 10:22 AM

I would like to see the feet complete and sharp. It looks like some post production work was done and they were obscured by cloning, vignetting or other process. Maybe that was the intention?

Thanks for sharing.

Registered on August 7, 2014, 125 Posts, 2319 Comments

Comment posted by Thomas Haney on March 11, 2015 at 11:49 AM

Thanks for the comments. Steve, there was no cloning or anything else done to the image, the feet are obscured by snow because I was laying flat on the ground while taking the shot, and there was some snow blocking a little bit of the bottom of the lens.

Registered on April 7, 2013, 138 Posts, 537 Comments