Clapper Rail
While taking photos of a Great Blue Heron out the car window at Brazoria NWR, I saw movement out of my left eye. I try to keep both eyes open when shooting just for such an occasion. A Clapper Rail had jumped up on a platform right in front of me. I changed the lens to its minimum focusing distance, changed the aperture to F9 and cranked up the exposure compensation another notch to +1. Ended up getting this full framed photo. Had a hard time seeing him as the morning sun was coming up behind me and shining into the view finder with my glasses preventing a tight seal on the eye piece. Was thrilled to get any shots in focus with 1/100 sec shutter speed. Gotta love the IS on the new 500mm lens. Would have been good to crank up the ISO but I couldn’t see the setting in the view finder. He only stayed around for about 20 seconds but it was a fun 20 seconds.
Taken with Canon 7D and Canon 500mm F4 IS II, 1.4x III teleconverter, hand-held out the car window
1/100 sec @ F9, ISO 400, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation, 700mm
Tim Timmis Photography 
Never seen one….glad you were able to get the shot.
November 28, 2012 at 4:54 pm
This is fantastic! Really appreciate your settings and technical info as I’ve rented a 500mm this week and love it, but have so much to learn.
November 28, 2012 at 6:50 pm
Thanks David. They tend to hide in the weeds so I was excited to get this close to one out in the open.
November 29, 2012 at 6:57 pm
Thanks Bella. It’s a great lens so have some fun. Be careful though. It’s addictive and a major blow to ye old bank account but worth it in my opinion.
November 29, 2012 at 6:59 pm
Oh Tim..I’m already hooked and am so sad I have to return it tomorrow. I did get insurance..think they would buy the story that someone stole it?
November 29, 2012 at 7:13 pm