Horrible falcon pic

[AmberC]

I have been trying to get pics of these guys for a while now, but they are not easy. They moved into my neighborhood a few months ago. Last night I had the opportunity for a great shot... but... I messed it up somehow. I was zoomed all the way in, but it was fuzzing and blurry. I have taken shots like this of birds before and they came out fine so I dont understand what I was doing wrong last night...

This was the clearest of the several I took:


and these could have been so good since he was looking over his shoulder!



Any suggestions?

[Lava Lamp]

The problem is that the your shutter speed was too slow. I opened your file and it shows 1/25 of a second, where you really need something like 1/250 for a good telephoto shot. At 1/25, you can't hold the camera steday enought to avoid the dreaded "camera shake."

Your camera was doing its best, but there wasn't enough light for it to have a faster shutter. The only things you could do would be 1) use a higher ISO , 2) use a flash, or 3) use a tripod.

[AmberC]

Thanks for the input How do you know when you need to raise the shutter speed? I generally keep it on auto, but I tried raising it one time just to mess with it and I did not like the end result as it makes the picture look funny I think....

Amber

[Sushigaijin]

Amber:

i think the best guess to get those shots would be to set up a tripod. I have an H1 too, and there are shots that it just won't get - low light full zoom is just that situation. You might be able to force a higher shutter using the "S" setting (shutter priority) but the camera would want to change the ISO (sensitivity) setting to get higher speeds. That's fine, except that the H1 suffers from noise at ISO settings over 200 so it takes best pictures at low ISO. I'm not sure a good solution exists, but the tripod would be a good start. At least then you eliminate camera shake, one of the primary causes of blurred photos. Here is a link that might help: http://www.aakatz.com/h1whitepaper/homepage.htm

Erik.

[AmberC]

Thanks Erik. I was also taken by surprise by the falcon as he just appeared and landed and it was so hard to find him if I looked away. They blend in so well. I think I was trying a little too hard to because its not often I get to see them like that. I have been trying for weeks and all of a sudden there he is! lol I was afraid he was going to take off at any second and I wouldn't get the shot.

I will check out that link! Thanks!
Amber

[paulnj]

Amber, that is not a falcon, but a hawk in the accipiter family. It an Accipiter Copperii or Copper's hawk and it's a 1st year bird too

[AmberC]

Amber, that is not a falcon, but a hawk in the accipiter family. It an Accipiter Copperii or Copper's hawk and it's a 1st year bird too

THANK you! lol.. *I* was calling it a hawk and my husband kept insisting to me "Its not a hawk its a falcon!" I was calling it a falcon to humor him lol

Amber

[paulnj]

Aparently you learned that from your husband, because smart men agree with their wives to keep the peace too

In all fairness though, I was taught hawk ID by some of the best hawk watchers and have been monitoring hawk migrations for 5 years.

[AmberC]

Paul, Thanks for the information I showed my husband this morning and he had though at first glance that it was a peregrine falcon. He had found some in Northern Va years ago and he was excited when he saw these. In his defence he never did get a great look at the bird. Birds of Prey are his favorite.

We looked up the coopers hawk after your post this morning. Very cool and thanks!

Amber

[paulnj]

Well it's hard to see in those images, but a cooper's hawk(as with all accipiters) are short winged and built to hunt birds and small mammals in dense woods, while the falcons are long winged speed demons that hunt open areas. a peregrine always has the tell tail mask on it's face, it's wing tips are as long as it's tail and the tail abarring in juveniles is narrower and more plentiful

Here is a previously posted juvenile coopers in flight

[paulnj]

Here are some hawk watches in your area

http://www.hmana.org/watches.php?sta...ia&country=USA

peregrines/merlins/kestrels(falcons) are more apt to be found coastal during migration, but can be found inland too. Always check the winds and weather, because birds don't fly into the wind usually, but falcons will at times. The best times for falcons are around the first half of october

Broudwinged hawks fly through in masses around that same period(last week of september/first week of october and usually after a cold front moves through is when the push for s.america is the best Seeing a "kettle" of broudwinged hawks will blow your husbands mind (100+ BWHA in a kettle are common)