Taking Flight (slow motion experiment)

 

This is an experiment in time as much as capturing the geese in flight. Except for the last clip everything was slowed to either half or quarter speed. In most cases the eye accepts half speed as real but quarter speed has very limited uses if the illusion of reality is to be maintained.

Snow Geese Blastoff (uncut)

 

Sometimes a video is needed to share the experience, something I have commented on before. To make the still shot work I think a sense of order must be distilled out of the organized chaos of 600,000 or more birds in flight.

Snow Geese at 16K

I just returned from Loess Bluffs NWR at Mound City, MO. and was surprised to learn yesterday's count was about 750,000 geese. However, the biggest surprise was quality of images shot at an ISO of 16,000, almost literally shots in the dark. I moved back to Canon after an experiment with Sony and this was its shakedown visit. Both shots recorded using auto focus.

ISO 16,000, 1/8 sec @ f5.6

ISO 16,000, 1/60 sec @ f4.0

and then it snowed!

 This weekend I had the opportunity to put a GoPro in the yard and watch the ice melt. With at least 6 inches of new snow I will soon get a chance to fine tune my technique.

Technical: GoPro @ 30 second intervals for 3 hours, auxiliary battery.

Morning Ritual

I made my annual visit to Shakopee last month to see the ducks and swans at Memorial Park, a great way to enjoy a peaceful morning with the birds. While watching I could not help comparing their morning ritual to mine.