Northern Harrier sequence

[PhilG]

I really like Northern Harrier's and have seen them frequently within Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, but never at a distance close enough to get any photographs I liked until earlier this year when one circled me a couple of times during a visit in February. I took the ten photographs that follow in sequence over a 3-minute period just rotating in the same position as it circled me. All of the photographs were taken with a Nikon Z8, Nikon 500mm PF with 1.4 TC, f/8, 1/2000. It was great fun just to watch it fly and hover, but I'm glad I got the photos too.

 

[Ralph]

I really like Northern Harrier's and have seen them frequently within Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, but never at a distance close enough to get any photographs I liked until earlier this year when one circled me a couple of times during a visit in February. I took the ten photographs that follow in sequence over a 3-minute period just rotating in the same position as it circled me. All of the photographs were taken with a Nikon Z8, Nikon 500mm PF with 1.4 TC, f/8, 1/2000. It was great fun just to watch it fly and hover, but I'm glad I got the photos too.

Awesome sequence Incredibly sharp. Well done

 

[Ralph]

Phil, what focusing mode did you use?

 

[ssheipel]

Beautiful.

 

[PhilG]

Phil, what focusing mode did you use?

Hopefully this answers your question:

I installed the 2.0 firmware on February 8th, and these photos were about a week later. I noticed an improvement in BIF tracking with the update.

My Z8 DISP button is set to AF-area mode with subject detection (bird at the time). The AF area is a single pixel box.

My Z8 AF-ON button is set to AF-area mode with subject detection (bird at the time). The AF area is a larger box I set up, but not too big.


The conditions were about as good as you can ask for. There was plenty of light, but it wasn't too harsh. I was standing in an area where there was open prairie all around me with only one small tree close and the others far away in the background. There was usually a lot of contrast between the harrier and background. The harrier never flew at a fast pace and would reach a point where it would hover and then proceed, so I didn't have trouble keeping it almost always centered in the viewfinder. In the sixth picture it was very close, and it passed me quickly, so I barely kept it in the frame and then lost it for a few seconds after it passed before I reacquired it.

I don't remember how I started tracking it, I think it was the AF-ON button. I was at 20 fps. I took a lot of photographs although many were the same, so I picked the best of sequence. I had to toss a large number taken when the bird moved into a location where I was shooting into the sun and the harrier was way underexposed. The Z8 only lost the harrier when it flew behind a small tree that blocked it totally from view.

 

[Larry S.]

Outstanding series Phil!

 

[Jose Raposo]

Nice series Phil, I also really like these Harriers, I photograph them quite a bit here in my area.

 

[MorganP]

Very cool shots.

 

[Callie]

Just love it! great set of images!

 

[Lance B]

Exceptional sequence of shots!