Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)

Being a Treatise Addressing the Successful Photographic Capture of Airborne Raptors from a Vehicle

 

OK, so here's what happened. I was driving slowly up Cañada Larga Road just North of Ventura. I stopped and took some shots from my sunroof of a kettle of Turkey Vultures and Common Ravens; they were backlit by the sunny sky so I had my ev comp cranked up over a full stop. I put my camera down on the passenger seat, not following my usual practice of resetting the ev to zero, and drove further up the canyon. I rounded a curve about a mile past the gate and saw this young hawk perched on a tree on the right hand side of the road. He was obviously in flush mode and about to take flight.

 

It all happened in seconds -- with practiced precision I yanked the wheel to the right, threw the car into park and switched off the ignition, giving myself a shooting angle through my open window. I summoned all the poise born of years of BIF photography and reached for my camera. In one smooth motion I lifted it toward the window, and the Black Rapid strap caught on the parking brake handle. I remained calm and unfazed. Never taking my eyes from my target I easily flipped the strap off of the brake handle. With my thumb on the exposure dial I saw the hawk lift off from his perch. Still I retained my poise, but I knew that I had to move more quickly now. As I raised the camera it was nearly jerked from my hand. The strap was now looped over my gear shift knob. I was still undeterred, but I knew I had no time to again free the strap, but I could not bring the camera to my eye! Instead, in the style of Rosemary Woods I gracefully twisted in my seat and leaned back, bringing my eye behind the camera. Now I was nearly lying on my back. The corner of the center console dug into my ribs and the BR strap, still wrapped around the shift lever, tore at the skin on my neck. My right foot was trapped and twisted beneath the brake pedal. I ignored the pain and clicked off a couple shots toward the now departing raptor. I struggled back to an upright position and instinctively did my best "I meant to do that" face in case I had been observed. I did a quick scan of the area and was relieved to see that I was alone.

 

When I reviewed the shots I realized that I hadn't re-adjusted the exposure. The photos were blown-out bright - you can see the original below. "Oh well" I thought, "just another red-tail."

 

That was five weeks ago, and I didn't look at the shots since then until tonight. I liked the position of the hawk and the focus was sharp so I fiddled around with it, thinking maybe hi-key or something. For those who care about such things, the photo was shot in JPG and "recovered" using Paint Shop Pro X with baby-steps and lots of layers. I was surprised by these results, and now I have another raptor-shooting strategy added to my arsenal.

 

The techniques described above are potentially harmful and are recommended for use only by experienced photographers. Others should not attempt to utilize these methods without supervision by a responsible adult.

 

Thanks for taking the time to read this waste of time :-)

 

Click "see previous comments" below if you want to see the original.

 

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