Swainson's Hawk (Dark Morph)

[Ashleigh Scully]

Hi,

I know this isn't very sharp, but I wanted to post it so you can see I'm still trying to get better and am learning.

This is one of two Swainson's Hawks I saw perched on fence posts near Laramie, WY. The other one is a really pretty light version. I shot this from the car with no support and handheld. It was 100 feet away my Mom thinks.

Canon 7D
Canon 400mm f/5.6
1/1000s (in case it flew)
ISO 400

I selected the background and toned it down a bit, then sharpened the bird.

I am learning how difficult it can be to capture a really sharp bird image handheld. I hope to be able to create really sharp images in the camera, and not use alot of tools to make it sharp, like Arash says. Even with a heavy lens I think I can do it!

Thanks for looking,

Ashleigh

[Ashleigh Scully]

Hi - I also wanted to thank everybody for their feedback on my Barred Owl Perched photo. It was chosen as a Semi-Finalist in the Youth part of the Nature's Best contest this year. Your comments helped me a lot.

Thank you!

[jack williamson]

Hello Ashleigh. I opened your image in photoshop and applied sharpening and it took it very well. You can resharpen the original and make this image much better. You keep shooting and posting, you are already getting better and I have no doubt that you are going to be an excellent bird photographer.

Jack

[Karl Egressy]

Congratulations on your Barred Owl picture, being a semi finalist.
This image does look reasonably sharp IMO. You can always try to run on other round of sharpening and see how it looks.

[David Salem]

Nice classic hawk on a post shot Ashleigh. I like the stare and the talons hanging off of the post. Needs another round of sharpening for the web. Sharpening takes a bit of trial and error to get it right. Took me a bit, and I am still figuring it out. Keep getting out there!

[dankearl]

Ashley,
I sharpened a bit (easy to do), cropped a tad, added a bit of color and some NR on the Bg.
Hope you don't mind.
Your camera skills are progressing nicely and congrats on the Owl photo.
Maybe spend a bit more time Post processing images, experiment and see what works.

swainsons_1.jpg (http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=131135&stc=1&d=1375743538)

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Ashleigh,

You are definitely making some great strides! I think you have acceptable sharpness in the original post and with a bit of processing you can get some great results.

Keep practicing and I look forward to seeing some more shots! I always found it helpful to see other posts and read the comments - especially the ones with in depth critiques - as it helps you learn from others' images. The next step would then be to try to see if you find similar critiques before reading theirs. Next thing you know you'll be critiquing your own work quite well!

Miguel

[arash_hazeghi]

very nice Ashleigh,

what a hadsome raptor! the repost with a bit more sharpening looks good

congrats on your achievements, I don't think anyone here has taken a photo like this when they were at your age. I'm sure you'll progress very very quickly

[Shawn Zierman]

Congrats on obtaining a very nice image of a gorgeous hawk species. I think Dan's post processing really took the image up a notch in terms of web display.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hi Ashleigh, congratulations on your Barred Owl image!!:S3:

This fella is quite handsome indeed, and he was very thoughtful to pose for you like this. The original post looks sharp enough, but just needed an extra oomph for web presentation. I like using my car as a blind, and this way I can rest my lens on the ledge of my car's open window (I do it directly on it, but a bean bag would be preferable). This would be advantageous to you with a non-IS lens.

Excellent work though, and keep it up!

[Robert Holguin]

Great shot.
Like the pose and background.
Dan's repost looks better.
Well done and congrats on your owl shot.