Raven at 8 feet

[dankearl]

A step back from the other photo and a bit better HA I think.
It was the largest Raven I have ever seen, RT hawk size. When it flew in and landed by us, I had
a 18-105 landscape lens on my D7000, took a few shots and walked back to my car while my
wife chatted with the Raven, got my D800 and 300mm lens, walked back and the guy was
still cawing and talking to my wife and I could just walk up and shoot at any angle and distance.
It was old, weathered and very tame and talkative. A fun experience.

1/640, f7.1, iso640, 300 f2.8, D800, HH

DSC_2452bp.jpg (http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=118707&stc=1&d=1348337079)

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Dan, looks like this guy really gave you the show off pose. Great IQ, and I really like the exposure and detail, and you nailed the sharpness perfectly. I also like the softer colour of the BG.

[Dave Leroy]

A very neat looking portrait. All the feathers around the face and shoulders look like a mane. I really like the nice clean bg, detail and very sharp. I think I may have seen a couple of these fellows around our area a few days ago. I hope this does not mean a cold winter.

[Robert Holguin]

Excellent shot. Love the ruffled up feathers, excellent feather detail, wonderful background, and great comp.
Well done.

It's a very memorable experience when you have friendly birds.

[Melissa Groo]

What a great story, Dan. How lucky you and your wife were to have such a close encounter. I would go nuts over that. Yes, the head angle much better on this one. Great details, feather sheen, and background. Wish the tip of the beak were perfectly in focus but I'd be thrilled to have this one.

[Arthur Morris]

Hey Dank :), Killer sharpness and details in the blacks and the darks. What are the dark vertical bars/lines in the BKGR?

[Marina Scarr]

All the details in those feathers really stand out and I Like the pose and comp.

[dankearl]

Thanks for the comments.
Arthur, this was in Kootenai national park outside of Banff. The BG was a gigantic Burn, a fire from a few years back.
I am not sure about the vertical lines.
THe Raven was supernatural, an old soul that just appeared in the forest, I have no other way to describe it.

[Frank Schauf]

Beautiful portrait, great details and sharpness.

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Very nice. I'm not sure that it may have helped much since you were so close, but I might have stopped down a bit to get a bit larger dof. Otherwise, love the pose and details that you captured.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Awesome, and this particular pose has it seemingly showing some pride, an accomplished old forager and keeper of the forest with lots of history. This one has much more impact than the previous one. I'd love an encounter like that with a raven!