Sunbathing Vulture

[Paul Wolf]

I shot this Turkey Vulture from my kayak, yesterday morning. I thought the pose and the backlighting made for a rather unique shot.

Canon 20D
Canon 100-400mm, L, IS
Canon 1.4x Teleconverter
1/640 sec. @ f/5.6, ISO 400
Flash with a Better Beamer
Hand-held

As always, critiques very welcome.

Paul

[mjs1973]

What a beautiful shot of an ugly bird. Great detail in the feathers, nice lighting and a very unique pose. One of those right place at the right time moments. Great capture.

[GB1]

Wow, heck of a shot and pose by the vulture. I like the backlighting effect and the natural framing provided by the tree on the left. I think it could be a little less cramped at the top, but that's it. Nice shot.

[ARP]

Another excellent shot........simply amazing

AR

[Nina]

I do find this to be a unique and interesting shot but have to agree with GB1 in that it's too tight for comfort. Other than that minor detail, I do like it overall & what a great photo-op.

[Photo-John]

Paul-
I love this photo. There are so many things about it that I like. The first thing is the light. It's perfect. I love the halo from the backlighting. And your exposure is perfect. It would have been very, very easy to blow this one with over or under-exposure. But you got it spot on.

I never see vultures this close. They do live here, in Northern California. But we only see them circling high in the air. They're hard to even identify. That's another reason I like this one so much. I've never gotten this close to one, with or without a long lens. I would be so proud of a photo like this.

Last, but not least, you got the bird in a great situation. I've never seen a bird warming itself like this before. But I know the feeling, myself. Last summer, I was up all night at 10,000 feet, in Colorado. It was well below freezing that night. And as soon as the sun came up I found myself a warm sunny spot to soak it up. Then I fell asleep in the warmth. Morning sun radiation, when you've been in the open cold all night, is a beautiful, beautiful thing. And, funny as it sounds, I can put myself in the vulture's place.

This might be may favorite bird photo from this site. Oh, there were some great eagle photos last year. But this one is truly different.

[Tuna]

Fantastic framing, exposure and post-processing work. The velvety details on this shadowy side are truly nice.

Well done.

Tuna

[jar_e]

Wow, amazing. Everybody covered all I would say, great shot!

Jared

[PlantedTao]

Wow! I don't normally like wildlife photos, but this one is incredible!
The color is amazing...so many different browns, golds and yellows. The pose is really amazing and I love how it fills the frame. The lighting brings out amazing colors and you did a great job on the exposure.
As mjs said: a beautiful shot of an ugly bird! (Now that takes talent )

Bravo!

[Paul Wolf]

I just want to say thanks to everyone for taking the time to comment on this shot. I was especially gratified to hear from those that don't normally like bird shots. I am to the point where I try very hard to present wildlife in some interesting way. Looks like I may have succeeded with this shot.

Photo-John: Your description of that nap in the warm sun brought back a memory from winter 1969. I was hunting in central Alabama (the last time I ever did that!). It was chilly, but when the sun came up, I laid back on a small, grassy knoll, put down my bow and arrows, and quickly fell asleep. The knoll was just at the right angle, the grass just soft enough and the sun just the right warmth. I awoke to the sound of my hunting partner yelling at me. Something about did I see any deer. Could not have cared less about any deer. I've not had a nap like that since.

Thanks, again, everyone.

Paul

[SmartWombat]

Very very nice.
Lovely detail and lighting.

1) I want one of those lenses
2) how do you get flash sync at 1/640 sec?