{"id":2335,"date":"2011-05-16T07:16:22","date_gmt":"2011-05-16T14:16:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=2335"},"modified":"2025-10-02T18:00:50","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T23:00:50","slug":"northern-harrier-in-low-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2011\/05\/16\/northern-harrier-in-low-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Northern Harrier in Low Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NorthernNorthern Harrier hunting on a low light winter day – Nikon D200, f6.3, 1\/640, ISO 400, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited <\/span><\/p>\n

I was digging through my archives to place my 2011 photos into a new external hard drive when I came across these two images of a Northern Harrier<\/span><\/a> hovering that I had taken in January of this year and decided to post them because of the low light conditions I photographed the harrier in.<\/p>\n

Utah weather can be unpredictable anytime of the year but during the winter it can look bright and sunny where I live and then when I get to\u00a0my location to photograph it can be quite a different story.<\/p>\n

The Salt Lake Valley has mountains to the east and the west and mountains do make their own weather.<\/p>\n

Plus given the fact that Northern Harriers prefer areas with marshes or shorelines and the fog found there can create even more challenges.<\/p>\n

These two images were taken when there was snow falling, the light was low and there was some fog. I had to increase my exposure compensation so that the images would not be under exposed which decreased my shutter speed giving the images some motion blur.<\/p>\n

Newer cameras than mine do handle higher ISO settings than 400 quite well which would give the users of those cameras higher shutter speeds than I was able to get with my trusty, but old, Nikon D200.<\/p>\n

\"NorthernNorthern Harrier floating over a snowy field –\u00a0<\/strong> Nikon D200, f6.3, 1\/640, ISO 400, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 200-400mm with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited <\/span><\/p>\n

I don’t mind the motion blur in these images and because northern harriers hunt by looking down at the ground for their prey I was very happy to get eye contact in both frames.<\/p>\n

The habitat with dried vegetation, snow on the ground, and bits of falling snow make the photos appealing to me as do the poses that the harrier gave me.<\/p>\n

I could have used some fill flash but at least 99% or more of my images are taken in natural light. I prefer photographing birds without flash partly because I don’t care for the “flashed” look and because I also do not want to startle or scare the birds.<\/p>\n

I’ve seen people get close to birds and when the flash goes off…so does the bird in many cases.<\/p>\n

Appealing and compelling images can be produced even when the conditions are not the best. I enjoy the challenges that low light creates, it test my skills as a photographer and I like that.<\/p>\n

Low light images are also a challenge to post process and<\/span> keep the photo looking like what it is, an image taken in low light.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to view more of my Northern Harrier photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I don’t mind the motion blur in these images and because northern harriers hunt by looking down at the ground for their prey I was very happy to get eye contact in both frames. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":158954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,1022,697,348,26],"tags":[215,4021,2663,765,768,4052,4175,2783,3164,4169,4174,771,156,767,610,4006,153,4050,4176,373],"class_list":["post-2335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-davis-county-utah","category-farmington-bay-wma","category-northern-harriers","category-utah","tag-bird-id","tag-bird-photography","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-circus-hudsonius","tag-falling-snow","tag-flight","tag-fog","tag-harrier","tag-harriers","tag-hawks","tag-hovering-2","tag-inversion","tag-low-light-2","tag-marsh-hawk","tag-marshes","tag-northern-harrier","tag-raptors","tag-snow","tag-wasatch-mountains","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t