# Magpie in Flight  - C&C welcome



## cgipson1 (Sep 13, 2011)

Magpie in Flight Silhouette.  

Photo was converted to Black and White. Magpie was approximately 80 to 100 yards away when I shot, and backlit by the sun. The white feathers were glowing.. it was gorgeous.


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## Forkie (Sep 13, 2011)

I'm always trying to catch Magpies in flight.  They're very quick!  You did well to freeze the wings, but the main problems are: 

*1.* He's flying away from you - rarely are photos of the back end of a bird interesting. 

*2.* The dark grey sky - doesn't do his plumage any favours.  Magpies have wonderfully iridescent plumage that shines purple, blue and green when the sun catches it.

*3.* Lack of detail - The black feathers are solid black.  There's almost no detail at all in his feathers and that is one of the main reasons for shooting birds, the patterns and colours of the feathers are what makes birds so beautiful.

I would put this one down to good practice.  You know how to freeze the wings and frame the subject correctly, but you need to get in front of birds to get a decent shot.  

Also, learn their behaviour.  You'll find that birds are much easier to photograph during landing because they slow right down and some hover briefly before touching down which makes for much more dramatic photos.  When birds land, they spread their tail feathers to act as airbrakes and spread their flight feathers to act as flaps so they can slow right down but still stay in the air.  These make the best bird shots as you can then see the detail and colours of all the feathers.  If you can catch them on the down-beat of the wings too, you'll have the perfect shot.  The down-beat shows the power of the wings.  

But remember to get either below them or at their level.  Shots from the top of birds at normal eye level are boring too.

The best birds by far to practice this on is ducks.  You can see them coming to land from a mile off.  You'll see them gliding with their wings held in a square-ish position as they lose height and just before they land they stretch their feet out in front of them and beat their wings to slow down, then they ski along the surface of the water to slow down further before stopping.

  This process last about 3 seconds, but as their glide down is a bit longer, you have time to zoom and focus.  When you get those shots perfected, try the same technique with other relatively slow moving birds such as herons, geese, swans (which are amazing), crows or if you have any in your area of the US, eagles!

Here's my favourite shot of my duck practice!




Gear down by Forkie, on Flickr

If you look at my other bird-in-flight shots in that set, most of them are ducks, geese, crows and seagulls, all either landing, or slowing down to pick up food off the ground or water.


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## pen (Sep 13, 2011)

I kind of like it for the stark black and white feel. Over all it does lack interest however and doesn't show off the bird. 

Good work catching a bird in flight like that it is hard to do.

Sent from my iPhone using PhotoForum


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## cgipson1 (Sep 13, 2011)

Forkie said:


> I'm always trying to catch Magpies in flight.  They're very quick!  You did well to freeze the wings, but the main problems are:
> 
> *1.* He's flying away from you - rarely are photos of the back end of a bird interesting.
> 
> ...



I did convert it to black and white.. hence the grey sky. The magpie was an estimated eighty to a hundred yards off when I shot... so this is a max crop also. The bird was also backlit by the sun.. so it is basically a silhouette, which is why the white feathers are so highlighted, and the black feather have no detail. The highlight in the white feathers was why I shot it... they looked like they were glowing... it was gorgeous. The reason I converted it to black&White was to emphasize the silhouette and the white highlights! Does that make any more sense now? Maybe I should have explained it when I posted.  I appreciate the C&C, and not arguing.. just giving you information that explains why the photo is how it is (and couldn't be any other way in this shot!)  

I love the shot of the duck.. that is awesome! Thanks for the tips also... I will try to put those to use when shooting normal pictures of birds...


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## Forkie (Sep 13, 2011)

cgipson1 said:


> I did convert it to black and white.. hence the grey sky. The magpie was an estimated eighty to a hundred yards off when I shot... so this is a max crop also. The bird was also backlit by the sun.. so it is basically a silhouette, which is why the white feathers are so highlighted, and the black feather have no detail. The highlight in the white feathers was why I shot it... they looked like they were glowing... it was gorgeous. The reason I converted it to black&White was to emphasize the silhouette and the white highlights! Does that make any more sense now? Maybe I should have explained it when I posted.  I appreciate the C&C, and not arguing.. just giving you information that explains why the photo is how it is (and couldn't be any other way in this shot!)
> 
> I love the shot of the duck.. that is awesome! Thanks for the tips also... I will try to put those to use when shooting normal pictures of birds...



Ok, it makes sense that you particularly wanted to highlight the white feathers, but I think the grey sky does dull the whole image and the rear-view doesn't do him justice.  It might be a good idea to make it a mini mission to get a picture of a magpie which highlights it's white feathers and keep trying for it, perhaps one that's a bit closer!

Was this is a local park?  if so, maybe you can go back and see if this magpie hangs around with any others in any particular area of the park and hover around that area for a while to see if you can get a better shot.

There's no doubt that the white feathers are highlighted in your shot, but without the details there isn't much longevity in the shot.  I feel like once I've seen the white stripes, that's all there is to see.  Even being able to see his eye would keep me there slightly longer.

If you really like this shot, maybe you might be tempted to make something else out of it.  Maybe darken it even more and make an atmospheric scene.  Something along these lines (photo not mine. Credit to Den_Dove).  Just an idea!  Sometimes if a shot doesn't quite turn out how I wanted, I have a go at things like this instead - they don't always work out, but it's fun to try!


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