Coopers on a stoop

[Michael Foster]

167762
I got several static pics of this hawk, but only this one when it was swooping on a bunch of songbirds around a feeder in VT. I liked this pic and thought I'd post it here to see if I could have done something better. The bird was so fast, that this is the only one I could get in flight.

5d4, 1001400 4.5/5.6 IS2, 400mm, f6.3, ISO400 1/1250
Cropped to about 1/9th, Levels and sharpening all in Lightroom

Not sure what the best way to post pics is here. I linked to my SmugMug account, but that come in as a JPEG. Looks like others may be posting TIFFs. Do they upload the files to the board?

[Tim Foltz]

Hi Michael, Welcome to the forum. Unique pose on this Cooper's, image looks to be slightly over exposed. The inclusion of the branches tells the story
of this hawk was dropping in on some unsuspecting prey. You might want to bump up the shutters speed and f-stop to get a sharper image, but overall not to bad an attempt of this speedy raptor.

-Tim

[kevin Hice]

Hi Michael, nice pic of Juvenile coopers. Like the downward angle. Gives you a different perspective. The more shutter speed you have on these guys the better.

[arash_hazeghi]

love the dive, the focus locked on the branch and the coop is OOF unfortunately, especially the head. your shutter speed is very slow for an incoming coop. you need 1/3000sec or faster plus the right AF settings to nail a shot like this

TFS

[Amanda Robinson]

Very nice in flight shot. Exposure and details look spot on.I think it would be ideal if the sky was not so blue and bright

[Michael Foster]

Thanks Arash and Amanda. I didn't expect to be taking this shot of a diving Coop, so didn't really have time to bump up the shutter speed. I can't remember now, but I am pretty sure I had it on the small center spot for AF and not sure what the AF setting was. I wasn't really expecting the flight shot, so just did not have time to change and get things right. Interesting that you picked up on what was focused on Arash. I'm not that good and wouldn't have figured that out. Makes sense that it found the limb, as this was a fast action shot. Thanks again.