Crested Caracara - I definitely had to work for these ones!

[Canon_Bob]

Hi all,

I had a photo shoot assignment today out in the middle of Florida. I am shooting the agricultural regions out there on assigniment. Anyway, one of my favorite birding spots is out there, so I decided to get there for sunrise and see if I could get a brief bit of birding in before the sun was suitable for agricultural shots. I left my house at 3:15 AM in order to arrive by sunrise (about 6:40 AM). Anyway, I'm driving down the road just after sunrise, but still too dark to really shoot effectively, and I see this Crested Caracara on the fence post by the road I was on. I decided to give it a run, as I have been pushing the envelope pretty far lately. There was no way I could get to my flash, so I just decided to see how well I could do hand-held out my car window...using the histogram as my guide. I swung the 600mm f/4 out the window of my Tactical Photography Vehicle (Toyota FJ Cruiser) on a beanbag and went for it. I started shooting with the aperture wide open, and at ISO 200, but got concerned that the speeds were just too slow (1/60th with a 600mm!), so I crept the ISO up to 400 and pushed the exposures a bit to minimize noise. The images below were actually shot at 1/60 to 1/80 HAND HELD (using a bean bag) with a 600mm lens!!!! What really surprised me was the number of well focused images at speeds that never broke the 1/100th mark! Image Stabilization rocks! ....But I don't think I'd try this on a regular basis I think they did pretty well considering the light that was available.

[AgingEyes]

So you had the lens itself sitting on the bean bag? Then I'm not really that surprised that you could pull it off...and the bird seemed pretty cooperative

Perhaps it's my eyes, it looks like the wing feather may be showing some noise.

For the third short, did you go around the bird or it turned?

Still clear and sharp as always. Well done and congrats !

[Don Kondra]

Good work.

Cheers, Don

[nps474]

I can't post my actual expletive laden reaction here.

Amazing.

As freaking usual.

[paulnj]

I'd piss my pants if I see that set of images on my CF card

[scott-devon]

I love it... you say they did pretty well.. I'd be dancing around my den if I got shots this fine.
Great series, and a very interesting bird.

[Old Timer]

You never cease to amaze Bob. Fantastic images under the described conditions.

[dumpy]

Amazing, I love the bokeh on number 3, it really brings out the bird. Unreal shots.