Flight photography is one of the coolest things to do in wildlife photography! It’s also a challenge in so many ways. This is the first challenge at Bosque, body parts.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP7914.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
Another challenge is getting a graceful “pose” in flight. What is graceful? Well to me it’s the angle of the wings opposed to the body angle and position. All I can tell you is that this is not a graceful.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP7930.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
Then there are those times when you get no body parts and you get a nice pose and good light only to have it all come together with a juvenile crane. What’s wrong with that? Well they don’t have the nice red patch over the eye or the slick, gray body plumage.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP7960.swf, 585, 444 [/swf]
These are just some of the challenges of flight which can be overcome with just more time behind the camera, patience and a quick trigger finger. Of course, being in the right place to photograph cranes is required if you want flight shots of these graceful birds.
Photos captured by D3s, 600VR w/TC-17e on Lexar UDAM digital film