Bald Eagle and snow flurries

[gail bisson]

Canon 1D MKIV
F 600mm II
ISO 800
F 6.3
SS 1/2000
Cropped by 30% left and bottom and canvas added to the RHS. I used the rectangular marquee tool to select the BG of sky and treeline on the LHS of frame( that I cropped out from final image) and used the move tool to move it over to the RHS and then blended the seam with the clone tool at 50%. It took 2 minutes to do!
Not baited. He was being harassed by a crow and banked sharply to land on the ice.
Comments and critiques always learned from and appreciated with thanks,
Gail

[Dan Busby]

Very nice Gail. I like the comp as presented. Great head angle and banking position. The yellow feet and beak really provide a nice focal triangle. I wish the snow flakes were a bit more discernable and maybe the eyes could use a tad more contrast/sharpening.

[gail bisson]

Hi Dan,
Thanks for the great observation re: sharpness. I forgot to sharpen the JPEG for online presentation.
Here is the sharpened version.
The flurries I can't do anything about!:S3: More like lake effect snow really,
Gail

[Andrew Merwin]

Dynamic pose. I like the position of the tail in the vertical position that shows how the BE uses it as a rudder. Great head on look. I do find the snow a bit distracting.

[Mike Veltri]

Nice pose captured Gail, I like the resharpened version.

[Karl Egressy]

Striking image, Gail Love the pose and eye contact. Great PP work.

[dankearl]

The pose is killer and very sharp,
Since the flakes are really not really clear, I would just blur the BG with NR.

[Randy Stout]

Gail:

the details, esp on the near wing and body are very nice. A different pose. In a perfect world I wish he was turned a sliver more our way to show more of the rear wing, but strong as is.

Nice job on canvas movement.

I am agreeing with Dan about the snow. Just not quite distinct enough to be compelling, would probably loose it.

I did fiddle with the snow in Color Efex Pro, tonal contrast, and could bring it up a bit, but not a great improvement.

Cheers

Randy

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Gail - dynamic pose and the rp rocks it. I find myself also agreeing about the snow. When I first viewed it before realizing from your title, I thought the snow was noise so I would probably try some NR. Nice job on the pp and canvas.

TFS,
Rachel

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Great pose Gail and I like your placement. Repost looks better and the snow is cool yet at first i must admit I mistook it for noise before i looked a little closer.