An attentive mother

I often set my camera to "manual" settings when I am out in the field. In this case, I was watching a shaded area for the possibility to photograph a deer or other animal that might walk out. I was surprised when a young northern cardinal landed on a limb in front of me. I paid no mind to it, but when its mother suddenly landed on the limb, I swung my camera its way.

Acting on impulse, with no time to change camera settings to "automatic," I shot a few pictures. The sun was shining very brightly on the mother cardinal. The slow shutter speed I had chosen allowed too much light to enter the camera, and the lighter areas of the photograph are recorded too bright.

When photographing wild animals, things can happen very quickly. It is impossible to be fully prepared for each opportunity that presents itself. You might ask, why I do not set my camera to "automatic" and leave it there? My reply would be that using the "manual" settings on the camera allows me to choose my own depth of field. In this photo you can see the background foliage is rendered extremely out-of-focus. This background softness is a personal preference of mine. The automatic setting would not allow for this soft background.

I like the way the female cardinal was alerted by my movement and raised her crest feathers to the alarm position. No more than two seconds later, the female had fed her young male "teenager," and they both flew away.