An immature Eastern Phoebe perches on flowers,
Sharon Woods Metro Park, Westerville, Ohio.
Technical information
Date/time:
Aug. 14, 2011,
9:47 a.m.Location:
40°6’50” N,
82°57'30" W
(Show in Google Maps)Camera:
Canon EOS 7DLens:
Canon EF 600mm f/4L, Canon 1.4x teleconverter (840mm)Aperture:
f/5.6Shutter:
1/400th secondISO:
400
I enjoy wildlife photography, especially bird photography. That’s obvious from looking at my recent photos on my website or my vast portfolio of photographs on my computer. A significant percentage of those photos are of birds.
It’s always my goal to get a sharp photograph of a bird in surroundings that don’t detract from the main subject. I don’t want unnecessary clutter pulling the viewer’s eye from important details like feather texture and color.
Occasionally I get lucky, finding a bird perched in a location where its surroundings actually enhance the photo.
That’s what happened here.
I was hiking through a field when I saw this young Eastern Phoebe perched on wild sunflowers. When I saw it through the camera’s viewfinder I immediately liked how the bird was isolated against a defocused green background and how wild sunflowers were positioned at an angle in the lower portion of the scene.
It’s a nice photo of an immature phoebe, showing plumage beginning to change to its adult look. But it’s an even better “nature photo,” showing an attractive and interesting scene of a bird and its environment. And the environment itself is eye catching.
Each week I will post a photo from my collection with an explanation of how I got the shot. Previous photos of the week are in the archives.