Fly

Sometimes it is scary to let go of the familiar, to find our way through the unknown.

Flight

Sometimes, choosing black and white to show texture and contrast is more effective than using colour. Here, the contrast between the solids in the geese and the texture in the grasses allows the geese to stand out a little more.

I shot at a focal length of 70, f/5.6 adn shutter speed of f/5.6. The speed was fast enough to stop some of the birds' movement yet allowed the wings to blur. Being able to show both makes this motion composition more interesting. We can almost feel the wind their wings create.

House Finch

We have some house finches nesting in our grapevine this year. We've had robins in the past but never house finches. They are active, sing sweetly, and so much fun to watch through my dining room window.

I set up my tripod with my camera and 75 - 300 mm zoom lens and waited. They are fast birds, that is for sure but using a 1/1000 shutter speed helped me to keep up - mostly. I got a few shots of males perched on the branches but those were not as interesting to me as this male taking off to get some more building supplies.

Blur is Not Always Bad

Blur is not always bad. Here it invites the viewer to feel the wind and freedom of flight. The delicate etchings of the feathers are not lost to the wind; they are remarkably present. We feel the movement and see what moves, both. Contrasting the solid and still perch with the blur that fills the frame is an effective way to draw attention to the subject.