Superb Fairy Wrens

[rick_dykstra]

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Hello folks,

 

Here's a pic taken a couple of weekends ago. I've been trying to get this shot for a few years and it finally worked. These Superb Fairy Wrens are highly mobile, rarely staying still for more than a second and hardly at all when they're getting themselves a bath. :-) So to have both mum and dad wren in the frame at the same time, satisfactorily posed and composed and to then have a split second to focus and shoot was quite something.

 

For me this shot says it all about the benefits of manual focus (and the R system) for nature photography. Freedom to focus anywhere on the ground glass is the key. This is full frame. Any movement to get a focus sensor positioned would have jeopardised the composition, would have taken too much time and would probably have scared them away.

 

It was shot with an R8 on an f5.6/560mm APO-Telyt-R module lens, with some flash that had been metered using the F mode and a grey card beforehand.

 

Regards, Rick.

[darkness30]

Rick, i admit your patience and effort pay off here. Hats off, wonderful capture.

 

Thanks,

Mehmet

[mitchell]

Rick,

 

Your work is always great, but this is fantasitc. The color, the moment. The attitude. We know from looking that they will not stand still. This is intense. I feel like I'm talking about human models.

 

I really enjoy looking at it.

 

Mitchell

[martinop]

Great catch.