[Leica] IMG: Ruffed Grouse

[rgacpa at yahoo.com (Bob Adler)]

Love the image, story and especially the ultra-wide comment!

Congrats on a well earned and beautiful image Doug,
Bob
 Bob Adler
Palo Alto, CA
http://www.rgaphoto.com




________________________________
From: Doug Herr <wildlightphoto at earthlink.net>
To: "lug at leica-users.org" <lug at leica-users.org>; LEG <leica at 
freelists.org>; LeicaReflex <leicareflex at freelists.org>
Sent: Sun, May 2, 2010 9:29:11 PM
Subject: [Leica] IMG: Ruffed Grouse

This weekend I made a quick trip (for family) to Brookings Oregon, on the 
Pacific coast just north of the California/Oregon border.  While there I 
found a female Ruffed Grouse who was far more tolerant of a camo-clad 
photographer than I expected:

http://wildlightphoto.com/birds/phasianidae/rugrou00.html

The background was a bit difficult to work with because of the clutter of 
the leaf litter on the forest floor; also the grouse' preferred habitat is 
the dense understory of the Pacific Northwest's temperate rain forest, so 
getting a clear view of the bird meant getting really really close with an 
ultrawide-angle lens (100mm APO in this case).  Now, about the background... 
I wanted a darker background behind the bird's head, which in this 
particular case was more distant.  The best way to get the dark background 
was a very low camera angle, which meant on my belly in the rain forest with 
huge banana slugs nearby.

technical stuff: R8/DMR, 100mm APO, slight crop, shoulder stock, heavy 
fog/light drizzle lighting.  All comments welcome.

Doug Herr
Birdman of Sacramento
http://www.wildlightphoto.com



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