Golden eagle in a golden morning

[arash_hazeghi]

I spent the weekend photographing raptors with my friend Dave Salem, we came across a rare scene of a golden eagle sitting on a kill, a coot. We used Dave's truck as a blind to get close to the eagle which was was surrounded by crows trying to take a bite off the coot. The eagle finally gave up after having consumed most of the coot and slowly disappeared in the horizon, we were still far from him but managed a few frames.

157350

1D-X 600II + 1.4X III. ISO 1250. f/5.6 at 1/2500sec. hand held from truck. processed with DPP 4.3. Hope you like it

[Andre Pretorius]

Hi Arash

Congrats on this special capture!

Please forgive me for taking liberties with your image- when I studied it, I felt it could do with some MT contrast and selective sharpening.
Did masked USM for local area enhancement and selective Sharpening for Web....
WDYT?

[arash_hazeghi]

Thanks Andre for taking the time but I prefer the original. The report is over sharpened a bit and shows halo artifacts, the contrast is a bit too much making the features appear a touch too dark for a golden eagle. I do use smart sharpen on the subject after I re-size the photo and here I attempted to make it as close as possible to what I saw in the field.

Best

[David Salem]

These are one of the hardest species of raptors to get close to in my are. What a great surprise when we came across this scene. The look back pose is the frame I liked best and I really like the complementary colors and tones. I too prefer the OP as it looks more as seen. What a great couple days we had! Keep them coming.

[Marina Scarr]

This must have been an amazing experience!!!! I personally prefer the OP. Lovely light, pose and moment captured.

[John Hackney]

Awesome shot and a great experience I am sure. I had a similar situation a couple of years ago and can attest to what a great thrill it was for me. I like the OP also.

[Randy Stout]

Arash:

The colors, look back pose, framing and shooting angle all come together here. Remarkable opportunity, well captured.

Cheers

Randy

[Satish Ranadive]

Fantastic image of majestic raptor (my most favourite).
Just love the frame.

Regards,
Satish.

[shane shacaluga]

Great pose a beautiful golden colour all over!

Very nicely done and looking forward to more of last weekends shots!

[Gerald Gardebled]

Great light and scene. A hard to photograph subject. Great luck and good at getting a nice capture of this rare moment.