Monday 28 March 2011

Opportunity Photography

Sometimes you have to work hard for your shots and sometimes it all just happens quickly and easily and sometimes opportunities come your way and you can either take the chance or not, Today i was driving in a very nice community just looking at what houses in our area are for sale and a general drive around in cold overcast conditions, We went into a small cul de sac and as i turned the car around a pileated woodpecker flew in front of the car and landed on a tree stump and within a minute another landed with it-a pair? they dug around the stump and took no notice of the car getting in a better position, We stayed for 10 minutes before leaving them to it, It was only 3 or 4 miles to my house so i dropped my wife off and grabbed my D3s and 600 with 1.4x and headed  back, I didnt expect them to be there but when i arrived there was one still in the area, I grabbed my beanbag and placed the camera on the bag, I took a test shot-uppped the ISO to 1600 and adjusted the exposure then slowly moved into position, It wasnt very photogenic and shortly after i had 2 shots in the bag the bird flew into a nearby tree, I watched it for a few minutes and then it dropped behind me on to another half dead tree, I slowly moved the car around and then started to get some images, The bird wasnt fazed at all and went on both sides of the tree trunk digging around for food, after 10 minutes it climbed up the tree and started to call, I could hear its mate and soon she flew over and they both flew off, the pileated woodpecker is a very large bird-very attractive and great to have in my area, I would love to find the nest and really would love to get them in my garden, It was a totally unexpected shoot but very welcome on a horrible day



Dave

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