Bald Eagles at first light.

[John Whaley]

I know the vantage point that this pair likes to watch their territory from but there is no place to shoot them with the sun behind me. Maybe once the leaves fall I can find a window. This was taken just after sun up. 1/160, f7.1, Auto ISO-140, +1.3 ev, 500mm, D500. cc please

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[Daniel Cadieux]

Nice duo here, always awesome to get two in the frame! A couple of good head angles too. Just bummer they were perched so high, but that is how it goes at times! I get the impression that you may have lifted the overall tones on the eagles' brown feathers? Seems they should be darker.

[arash_hazeghi]

Dan covered some good points, steep angle isn't ideal.

your choice of settings is no good for bird photography, your ISO is way too low and your SS is too slow as a result. here the eagles were still so you could get a sharp shot but if they had moved a tiny bit at 1/160 sec the image would be extremely soft. You need to work on your exposure, namely use manual exposure, keep your ISO high such that your SS doesn't drop below 1/1000sec. I usually shoot at ISO 800-6400 range, keeping my shutter speed at 1/2500 sec or faster if I am shooting BIF and 1/800sec or faster if I am shooting perched birds.

TFS

[John Whaley]

Thanks as always for the feedback guys. This is shot as usual in manual mode with auto ISO, AI servo, group, high speed, back button focus - one set to group and one set to single point focus. This shot was single point focus on the eye of the larger bird. I bounced around with the settings trying to get both birds exposed and in focus. It was first light, the sun was at 45 degrees to the left, the Eagles were and almost always are calm until it warms a bit. I wanted depth of field to get both birds sharp. I went as high as ss 1/1000 and as low as 1/160. I also experimented with ev and would have liked to be higher but was getting blinkies on the white heads at + 1.6. This one had the best head angles, was best exposed for the dark feathers, has both birds sharp and low noise so seemed like the best choice. I have an idea for a better angle next time. Shadows down a bit in this one.
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[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent image. Nice look back poses with beautiful colors.

Regards,
Satish.

[Kalin Botev]

Hi John, veri nice light. I like the 45' angle it's coming from. These birds are very beautiful. I had the chance to see them at the Conowingo dam during a short trip to the US last week.
Thanks for sharing.
Kalin