Northern Harrier at sunset

[gail bisson]

Canon 1D MKIV
F500 and 1.4x
Iso 640
SS 1/2500
F 7.1
Handheld and cropped by 15%
I grossly underexposed this shot as I was taking pictures of white gull and this guy suddenly appeared. I didn't have time to change my settings( I know...excuses, excuses!!). I had to raise the exposure by a full stop and increase the brightness as well. NR then became an issue.
Is my PP acceptable? Would love any suggestions to salvage this shot.
I used DPP and CS5.
Gail
Comments and critiques always appreciated and learned from with thanks.

[Sanjeevprakash]

Nice try,Gail.
Sorry,but I'll have to be honest here.Unfortunately this does not cut it for me.The image is very soft bearing no details.Except for the light from the setting sun and the bird being in focus,which are the pluses here.At just 15% crop I would like to see more details of the bird.How far was the Subject,Gail?

[Joe Senzatimore]

Soft here as well. Perhaps brighten up the face a bit???

[arash_hazeghi]

gotta try this one again :S3:

[Robert Holguin]

Very nice light, but it is soft.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Gail, love the late light and warm colours. As you have already stated, it is underexposed, so bringing out more exposure would probably show up some noise.

We have all had situations like this, so dont feel bad - it just means getting out there again and getting that winner. :w3

[gail bisson]

Hi everyone,
I am mortified now that I even posted this!! I was blinded by my desperation for this to be a good shot!! This bird and belted kingfisher are my nemesis birds.
Please delete this frame from your memories!!!:e3
Gail

[Melissa Groo]

Oh Gail, don't worry. But I can understand your desire to make this one work. Northern Harriers are my favorite raptors to photograph and this could have been an interesting shot, with that light. You certainly got it in focus which is no mean feat. Try and try again, that's our mantra, right?

[Karl Egressy]

The light is very nice and so is the flight pose, Gail. Unfortunately it is soft and I don't know if you tried to improve on it yet.

[Grace Scalzo]

Don't feel bad, Gail. I have nearly the same image in my files. :e3

[Nico Steenberg]

Super sweet light and in flight pose with good detail and comp. Well done !