By Ted Grussing
… in a quarter of a second … the wings forced into the water with the leading edge down, then in the second shot they are rolled back to normal position and the initial down thrust pushing against the water to begin the launch into flight and water being forced out to the edge of the wings; the feet are also thrusting downward to assist in the launch. In the third image the Cinnamon Teal is rising from the initial thrust and water droplets are flying everywhere as he ascends into the air. The fourth shot shows him with the second downward motion of the wing creating a low pressure area above the wings pulling him up and the downward force compressing the air beneath him helping to propel him into normal flight.
This all happened in a quarter of a second! I have several more shots in this sequence before he disappeared from my frame … my reaction time to track him from this close was not fast enough to keep up with him as he rose at more than 15 feet per second after the last frame.
You can see from the splash in the lower right of the images that another Cinnamon Teal had preceded our friend by about a second and the remaining teal were gone in less than five seconds.
This is the first time I have ever captured the wings entering the water leading edge first and with the duck facing directly at me; I learned something new about the launch today. Cinnamon teal are small dabbler ducks and like other dabblers (mallards, pin tails and more) they enter flight with dramatic vertical launches. Diving ducks run on the water to gain the airspeed they need to fly.
Hope you enjoy the series; each image shot at a 1/3200 of a second, f/8, ISO 1000, 400mm with the Canon 1DX MK III and the Canon EF100-400mm F/4.5-5.6L IS II lens. Shooting speed, 16 frames per second.
Into the new week … another new day is beginning so choose to make it a super day, it is always your choice!
Smiles,
Ted
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The easiest way to reach Mr. Grussing is by email: ted@tedgrussing.com
In addition to sales of photographs already taken Ted does special shoots for patrons on request and also does air-to-air photography for those who want photographs of their airplanes in flight. All special photographic sessions are billed on an hourly basis.
Ted also does one-on-one workshops for those interested in learning the techniques he uses. By special arrangement Ted will do one-on-one aerial photography workshops which will include actual photo sessions in the air.
More about Ted Grussing …
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