Hey, is that the new 400 DO?

[Diane Miller]

"Yup. Sure is! With the 2X on it."

Follow up on yesterday's post, 1 minute later. Then he went right back to looking for his hoped-for prey, but it had apparently escaped.

7D2, 400 DO II + 2X, ISO 800, 1/800, f/10, big Gitzo with Wimberley II. Minimal LR adjustments, but had to bring up the exposure a little. Clouds had become momentarily heavier and I was too excited to pay attention, and that's exactly when I should be. Into PS for some subtle BG cleanup and a touch of NR, but hardly needed. Very slight crop from the left and a little from the top. I was trying to keep the center focus sensor on the eyes and was afraid he would move if I did.

I only got one shot and he went back to his hunting posture, then flew to a nearby ugly coyote bush, then flew back to the ground to my right and nailed a vole. With his back to me, mostly. Got a few, but not exactly winners.

[shane shacaluga]

Been hipnotized since i saw this image earlier!!

Love it!

Great stare and love composition. Good work on the Techs and PP and nice BG

TFS and glad you are enjoying the new lens

[Jonathan Ashton]

Looks like a great combo Diane, very nicely presented image. You really nailed the focus.

[shane shacaluga]

When i first saw this i couldnt help thinking their was a big green cast on it but I thought it was the BG making it appear so

I pulled this into CS5 and adjusted the colour balances and to my eye this looks more how i would envisage a juvenile red tail

Let me know your thoughts

[Diane Miller]

Good catch, Shane. I was guilty of going a little too far toward yellow with the temp slider in raw conversion -- trying to add a little punch to a gray day. I've backed off that and like it better.

I may have a look at removing some of the scrubby vegetation, but doing a good job will be difficult. In hindsight I was wishing I'd lowered the camera angle a little to show that it was on the ground, although it wasn't a pretty location. I had a little leeway.

May do a little cleanup and a little crop.

Thanks for comments!

[Grace Scalzo]

I'm looking forward to your repost, Diane, because I feel as if the repost posted above has just a bit of magenta in the browns. You're the master and I know you'll nail it. I guess that I would have to say that I'd like either more of the scrubby veg or none at all. The staring pose is spot on and the image quality here is wonderful. You'll make sweet use of that lens and darn you for getting me thinking about it. LOL

[Diane Miller]

Hey, this is an expensive hobby... Although it's lighter than the 300 f/2.8, it's still a load for a long walk, especially with a big Gitzo and Wimberley II in the other hand. (We won't talk about shoulders.) A while back Marina had posted an item about the Spider "holster" and I got one and have loved it.

http://www.amazon.com/Spider-SCS-Single-camera-Holster/dp/B004SIMNF0

But it's not designed for a longer lens than about a 70-200. So I put on my engineer's hat and decided what I needed was a long tripod plate with a holster pin on the back end instead of on the camera body plate for which it designed.

Will do a shot and post in Photography Gear tomorrow. Short answer -- it's the cat's ***.

Will do a RP from the raw file tomorrow too. I did a quick Color Balance (darks) and got what you suggest, with a little less magenta. Needs a re-do from the raw to be the best.

Oh -- and the lens -- hard to separate optics from atmosphere, but I'm thinking with the 2X it's not quite up to the 600 II with the 1.4X. Will be interesting if we ever get a clear night again to see how it does with tracked stars. I don't know how relevant that is for daytime shots, but it shows up optical imperfections with a TC that go away when you stop down a couple of stops.

[Karl Egressy]

Nice portrait, love the stare.

[John Myers]

Wow, really nice shot!

[Diane Miller]

Here's my attempt at better color. I'm not that familiar with birds so can't be sure how accurate I'm being, and with a shot on a very cloudy day there is another level of uncertainly about the best white balance / color temp. I cleaned up the scrubby weeds and cropped a little to save getting into too much difficulty with the cleanup. I wish I had left a little more of it to show the context of being on the ground, even though it wasn't attractive. I would prefer the white breast feathers to come to an end or fade into shadow before the bottom of the frame.

Opinions welcome!

[shane shacaluga]

This works for me! Colour is good and the dark feathers starting to show at bottom of breast make it a good cutting point