What's gone wrong with my owl?

[JimL]

I have just started using d500 / 500 pf (previously d780 / 200-500). My main interest is birds. I have been interested for years but never really devoted enough time to this.

So yesterday I was on bird reserve. Most shots were good/ok but I am puzzled why I didnt get a good shot of this short-eared owl in front of a hide.

In all examples I had f/5.6, manual mode, auto iso and adjusted the shutter speed between 1/000 and 1/3200. I can't remember what I did with VR for high shutter speeds. I had it on for lower speeds, but I thought the setting would not be relevant for higher speeds. In the owl image there seems to be motion blur even though the shutter speed was 1/3200 - which I didnt think would be possible. Maybe VR was on and made it worse - is that possible?

Lawing 1/1000 VR on:

Lapwing in flight: 1/3200 - not sure of VR setting, probably left it on

Meadow Pipit 1/3200 ? VR on or off

(PS I am new here - so happy to be advised on forum etiquette / conventions for posting images ...)

 

[BF Hammer]

Were you mechanically stabilized with VR on? As in resting on something or monopod?

I have used VR with monopod though without problem. There are stories of blurred photos being caused by using a lens hood. Sun heats the black hood, thermals happen within. The fix is to remove the hood. I am trying to be mindful of that more, but have not been forced to taking action yet.

 

[JimL]

Thanks BF. All pics were handheld, although for the owl I was in a hide, seated with my elbows on a shelf - so quite stable. I used to use a tripod for landscape photography, but for birds I find it rather cumbersome. I did try monopod, but didn’t particularly like that either.