Posted by John MacTavish on December 27, 2009 at 12:20 PM
Had to wait a while to get this shot. Been after woodcock all week and only managed to get a few half decent frames this afternoon.
Hard frost makes walking around the woods looking for them a no no, they hear you miles before you see them.
Instead I tend to wait at an area I've seen them fly to and hope they come out to feed.
1D3
EF400 f/2.8 L IS + 1.4x
Handheld across knees
ISO 1250
1/100
f4
The setting is great, not an easy bird to get good images of particularly at this angle... this looks good... well worth the wait (not too long thankfully at minus temps)....
Very nice image. The background colours really suit the bird.
Posted by Edwin kats on December 27, 2009 at 1:38 PM
Great shot. They are so beautiful and weird (the eye position) at the same time.
Great colors and I like the vertical comp.
Well done.
Edwin Kats
Posted by Rob Ashton on December 27, 2009 at 3:02 PM
A great species and one on my wishlist.
Rob
Posted by Fran French on December 27, 2009 at 3:23 PM
An absolutely super image of a bird I have yet to see. Most defintely worth that long cold wait!
Fran
Posted by Barry Southon on December 27, 2009 at 3:24 PM
John
Well worth the effort what great result.
Posted by Philip Newman on December 27, 2009 at 4:34 PM
Tremendous result and effort, very well done
Posted by Liam Pauling on December 27, 2009 at 4:55 PM
Great shot, I love the leaves as they go well with the colour of the bird.
liam.
Posted by Andy Shepherd on December 28, 2009 at 4:52 AM
Well worth the wait John, I'd be well pleased to capture such a difficult species.
Andy...
Posted by Kim Connolly on December 28, 2009 at 8:09 AM
Excellent shot, worth all your efforts.
Posted by Bertl Menegoni on December 28, 2009 at 1:40 PM
Beautiful shot of this nice bird John.
A good friend of mine says all the time: it always happens in the last 5 minutes!
and I wait, 5 minutes, 5 minutes, another 5 minutes, another .....
Bertl
Posted by Ian Mason on December 28, 2009 at 3:28 PM
Never seen one - this makes me want to! I love the setting and rich dark colours in particular.
Posted by Nigel Blake on December 29, 2009 at 4:20 AM
Excellent; certainly shows off it's crypic camouflage well on this shot; there's loads of them around and showing at the moment, I've seen several out feeding on grass verges right beside the road!
Posted by Craig Jones on December 29, 2009 at 6:12 AM
A beautiful image showing just how well these beautiful birds blend into their habitat,I love the portrait composition and the colours are stunning
Posted by Peter Cairns on December 29, 2009 at 6:30 AM
Great fieldcraft to even get in position - difficult subject.
Pete
Posted by Paul Hobson on December 30, 2009 at 6:09 PM
Hi John
would love some details about how you did this, woodcock are one of my favorite birds and so difficult to get shots of
Cheers
Paul
Posted by John MacTavish on December 30, 2009 at 6:41 PM
Discussion
19 repliesHard frost makes walking around the woods looking for them a no no, they hear you miles before you see them.
Instead I tend to wait at an area I've seen them fly to and hope they come out to feed.
1D3
EF400 f/2.8 L IS + 1.4x
Handheld across knees
ISO 1250
1/100
f4
Always love to see shots of woodies - love the surroundings and muted colours. Hope you didn't spend too long shivering waiting for it to return.
Just about to give up and it appeared.
Great colors and I like the vertical comp.
Well done.
Edwin Kats
Rob
Fran
Well worth the effort what great result.
liam.
Well worth the wait John, I'd be well pleased to capture such a difficult species.
Andy...
A good friend of mine says all the time: it always happens in the last 5 minutes!
and I wait, 5 minutes, 5 minutes, another 5 minutes, another .....
Bertl
Pete
would love some details about how you did this, woodcock are one of my favorite birds and so difficult to get shots of
Cheers
Paul
You have a PM email thingy