I don’t mind being roused from my slumber in the mornings.
Just as long as the culprit isn’t a leaf blower or my next door neighbor’s outboard motor.
On most summer mornings, I can’t sleep past 6:30 am anyway.
My bedroom door which opens to the backyard is always open to let in the cool night air.
![bird-of-prey1](https://new.peterphun.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/bird-of-prey1.jpg)
I lost the coin toss and ended up on the side of the bed which is directly in front of that door.
Even if I ignore the bright beams of sunlight, the heat will do me in eventually.
The past three mornings, I’ve been hearing a strange high pitch call from my yard.
Finally this morning, I grabbed my Canon 40D and my longest lens to investigate.
Before heading outdoors, I set my camera to shoot RAW and jpeg, guess the exposure: ISO 400, 1/500 sec at f2.8.
![bird-of-prey2](https://new.peterphun.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/bird-of-prey2.jpg)
Here’s a tip: when you know your quarry is going to be camera-shy and you’ll only get a few chances, you want to get your exposure close.
I can usually tell what the exposure will be for most situations because of years of exposing the same film day-in and day-out.
I set my camera to record RAW as well because I know I might not be able to get close.
Having the full megapixel image will allow me to crop in some more and I’ll still have plenty of resolution left.
![bird-of-prey3](https://new.peterphun.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/bird-of-prey3.jpg)
Tomorrow morning, I’ll have my audio recorder ready and I plan to grab a sound byte from these Cooper’s hawk.
I should also keep my 1-year-old cats Shiva & Tempe indoors.
If I had deep pockets, what might I consider getting?
- a longer lens–a no brainer really
- some sort of a portable blind that hunters use
- a blimp. This is what most still photographers use on Hollywood sets to muffle the sound of their shutters and motordrives
![bird-of-prey4](https://new.peterphun.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/bird-of-prey4.jpg)
Peter Phun Photography
Promote Your Page Too