In many of my posts I make a big deal out of being an active birder\photographer. Some would say too big a deal.
There are times though that I try to wait for the shot. This is the case in this series of one of our neighborhood Barred Owl pair. She and her mate (I think it is the female based on size) hunt in our yard on a regular basis. This has made for some, I think, nice shots of them waiting patiently for a potential meal to make a mistake. Sometimes they are sitting together in what strikes me as a kind of dinner date.
I’ve always wanted to get a shot of them launching from the limb. It is just an awesome sight to see. I’ve missed. Either altogether because I didn’t wait long enough, they can sit for hours if the Blue Jays don’t find them. Or, they left on the opposite side of the tree. Or, I just screwed up the settings.
This morning when I was at my porch office desk, the female landed in a service berry tree just off the porch. She then flew up and settled on a larger limb deep in the canopy of an oak. She sat motionless. This gave me the time to get the camera ready, pull a chair up to the rail, put my coffee cup beside me, and check my BIF settings. I keep one of the Olympus OMD EM1X custom settings for BIF so all I have to do is turn the mode dial to C2.
I settled in. For about an hour. Then she moved to an open area, looked up, and launched. Patience payed off.
BIF Core Settings: Shutter Priority, 1/2000, Auto ISO, CAF, 3X3, Focus Sensitivity 0