SUCCESFULL YOUNGSTER

[Ian McLachlan]

I took this young [about 18/20 months] White Bellied Sea Eagle off the North West coast of Kangaroo Island, South Australia last southern summer. The light was very harsh in the early morning and the colours seemed to be very strong so I have tried to soften it up a bit. Cropped about 35%. Have used the 300 because the swell out there or ineptitude means I cut off a wing tip or more too often. Anyway this year will try 600mk2 from a bit further away as well ' and we shall see.Have straightened the horizon. Obviously baited and hand held. Comments very welcome.

Ian

1DX
300MM
ISO3200
f5


137243

[Raybel Robles]

Hi Ian, I like the pose of the eagle, showing the catch.

It does seems a bit soft here on my work monitor. I would also add a bit of canvas to the bottom of the frame.

[Frank Schauf]

Excellent flight pose and sharp details.

[Daniel Cadieux]

A nice look at the patterns under the wings! The catch is pretty neat, and I like that you have a bit of clouds in the sky to add interest up there. I only wish the horizon did not cut so close to the face...

[Ian McLachlan]

Thanks Daniel, Ive looked at the others in the sequence and the bird insisted on flying the sky line!
Ian

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Nice shot Ian, I wonder why use ISO3200 when you say the light was harsh? Also, you didn't mention your shutter speed? My best guess for the apparent softness is perhaps you've underexposed the (RAW? I hope it was RAW not just jpeg) file and then recovered during post and applied noise reduction. NR always leaves images looking very soft like this. On the light front, I'd like to have had no shadow above the eye from the wing.
Glad you got such cooperative bird that flies so close to you even when baited. Are they used to people here or did you conceal yourself with a hide?

[Ian McLachlan]

Akos,

Well of course I posted the wrong ISO which was 400 and the shutter speed was 1/3200th of a second.We were off the west coast of Kangaroo Island about 300 meters offshore .Sometimes the birds come but if they have already had a good feed they might just sit and look at you for hours on end or simply disappear. I was in raw as always and was trying to soften the light but not the image. The image is quite sharp on my monitor. The hide is the canvas shade on the boat!.
May thanks for your comments
Ian