Of Shotguns and Cameras - Iowa Wildlife Federation

Of Shotguns and Cameras

Photography courtesy of Lowell Washburn, all rights reserved.

GWT 2-22-17

Everyone loves to share good photos — the duds not so much. Thought I’d make an exception on this one though, and have attached one of my most recent heart breakers.  I took the shot on Wednesday afternoon while sitting in the decoys and enjoying  an incredible spring waterfowl migration.  I didn’t have any snow goose decoys, just laying in the mud set up for ducks alongside a small sheet water pond in the cornstalks.  When the late afternoon light was perfect, a flock of about ten or so green-winged teal came roaring over the horizon and straight for the decoys.  The birds were all over me in an instant.  Sitting up, I picked out a colorful drake and hit the shutter just as the flock flared – point blank — in my face.  As it turned out, the color exposure was absolutely perfect with some pretty good focus to boot.  The down side – of course – was that the teal was so close that I totally ran out of frame space.  If I could have pulled it all together just a fraction of a second sooner, I would have had an incredible shot – maybe the best of the season.  Woulda – shoulda – coulda!  My conclusion: When it comes to pointing shotguns and cameras at fast moving ducks, I’ve found that there are a lot of painful similarities.  Know what I mean?   

 

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