Mourning Dove Portrait, Chincoteague NWR
This past week has been somewhat of a transitional period for me, so I apologize for the long delay between posts. Friday was my last day of work at Project USE for the fall season, and I have spent the past couple days packing up my belongings and spending some quality time with my co-workers before making the move back home yesterday. In another day or so, I plan to head down to Virginia to spend Thanksgiving with Chris, his mom, and stepdad.
In the meantime, I promised I would share some more shots with you from my trip to Chincoteague. This photograph, of a Mourning Dove, is probably one of my favorites from the trip. I really like Mourning Doves and have plenty of them around my home, but they are quite skittish and rather difficult to photograph. While at Chincoteague, Chris and I came upon a couple of these doves foraging for food in the dried grasses and pine needles along the beach drive. Since nothing else on the refuge was particularly photo worthy at the moment, Chris carefully pulled his car up alongside where the doves were feeding. Knowing the species was flighty, we stayed in the vehicle and photographed the birds from out the windows of his car. I used a molar bean bag by Vertex Photographic (the best photographic bean bag on the market IMO) to steady my camera and shot my lens nearly wide open, in an attempt to diffuse the distracting background caused by my high shooting angle.
Knowing the species you are photographing is important to getting good shots. By understanding how timid this particular species is, I was able to carefully photograph the birds in a way that did not disturb them. If I had gotten out of the car to shoot these birds from ground level, which would have resulted in a better out of focus background, they would have taken flight the second I stepped out of the vehicle. Most of the time, any photo is better than no photo at all, even if it means the background or setting in the final shot isn’t perfect.
Techs: Canon 1D Mark II N, Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS USM, Canon 2x Mark II Extender, 1/500s, f/6.3, ISO 250, natural light, bean bag. To order this print, purchase stock rights, or view other photos I have for sale, please visit my website at www.karipost.com.
In: Recent and Random Photos, Tips and Techniques
on November 24, 2008 at 2:28 pm
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Awesome Kari, I have absolutely nothing for this species. Nicely composed, and the light and details are beautiful.