High Island in a Blur

One of my favorite things to do at the High Island rookery is to get there early before the sun comes up and shoot blurred flight shots in silhouette.  If you can handle the pre-dawn mosquitos, the flight shot opportunities with awesome colors are almost endless.  It’s too early at that point to get sharp photos so I’ve learned to embrace the blur.   About 1/2 hr before the sun comes up, the skies are filled with birds launching from far and wide.  I typically use aperture priority, wide open, ISO 400 and +1 exposure compensation and let the camera set the shutter speed.  I love the randomness of the shutter speeds that I get and the affect on the flight shots.

Here are a few Roseate Spoonbill’s in a blur from the rookery.

Taken with Canon 7D and 100-400 lens on tripod with Sidekick gimbal mount.

1/40 sec @ F5.6, ISO 400, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation

1/13 sec @ F5.6, ISO 500, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation

1/20 sec @ F5.6, ISO 400, evaluative metering