Hawk Feather Still Life

I found this Hawk Feather in the yard so I thought I would try shooting a few Still Life images with the feather on an interesting background in the studio. I saved a wood section from a Pussy Willow tree that fell down during Hurricane Sandy and used it for an interesting textured background for the feather. When the weather gets colder or if it is a rainy day, it can be fun to try shooting setups indoors. You can use simple hot lights with homemade light modifiers, diffusers and scrims or even portable speed lights. I used a Canon EOS 1D MkIV with the Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM. Lighting was with a Canon 550 Speedlight with a reflector bouncing light back in for a ratio of about 1:3. Exposure was f/22 for maximum depth of field with an ISO of 400. During the year I save items I find thinking of using them as studio subjects when the weather turns cold.