The Water Rail and the E5

[PeterD]

The light levels at this time of the year can be quite challenging in the Northern hemisphere and therefore I welcomed the performance improvements of the Olympus E5. I have already carried out a few tests to confirm the improvements but remained a little sceptiical as to the benefits that higher useable ISO might have in wildlife photography. I thought I would put this to the test by attempting to photograph the Water Rail (Rallus aquaticus) which is normally a shy and reclusive bird. Most of the time this bird spends deep in reedbeds but, at this time of the year ice, and a shortage of accessable food, forces the bird to range further and be more in the open.
The normal diet for these birds include insects, seeds, berries and small birds. The subject of these images had learnt that another food source (Stickleback fish) was readily available and had developed a duck-like technique to capture its prey.
The lighting was very poor being late in the afternoon. The sun was low and behind clouds. The location was a ditch with reed beds and vegetation on the banks which threw shade over the scene. I was using the Sigma 50-500 at fl 500mm and aperture set to f 6.3. The resulting shutter speed was only 1/125s - 1/250s at ISO 1600. Challenging conditions for the camera made more difficult by being hand-held with such a long focal length. The IS system would also be tested.


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The bird was standing on the ice, checking to see if it was safe to move out towards the middle of the ditch.


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It moves out to the centre of the ditch where the ice is broken, looking through the ice for signs of its prey.


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Following a quick swim and head immersion, it climbs back on the ice with a fish.

Hope these images are of interest. I would not have attempted these shots with the E3. Sure, with better light and lower ISO I could have achieved better images but at least I did not lose an opportunity to get this bird in an image despite the conditions (over which I obviously had no control) being so poor.

Comments welcome, as always.

[Ian]

Excellent - thanks for sharing, Peter. This bird seems to be walking on water!

Ian

[Jocelyn Walker]

Well captured all considered imo! Thanks for sharing your interesting topic!

[PeterD]

Originally Posted by Ian

Excellent - thanks for sharing, Peter. This bird seems to be walking on water!

Ian

Thank you for your reply Ian - Greatly appreciated.
The ditch it was in was largely iced up with just a bit of open water in the middle. With the coming second cold spell, we shall make sure that this open water is retained as it is clearly a life-line for this bird. But please do not tell anyone.

[PeterD]

Originally Posted by Jocelyn Walker

Well captured all considered imo! Thanks for sharing your interesting topic!

Hi Jocelyn, thanks for your reply. These are greatly appreciated.
I have been asked what would happen if I raised the ISO still further to say 3200. I shall try this later. I expect the noise to increase, some further loss of detail but the faster shutter speed might help improve the sharpness.
The important lesson I have learnt is not to just give up when the going gets tough! Lighting conditions alone should not be an excuse to miss opportunities for wildlife photography.