Red-shouldered Hawk

[David Salem]

We've been having a great raptor season already this year with lots of birds and lots of action. This beautiful juvie female Red-shouldered Hawk has been a great subject and has become a very cooperative bird over the last few months.
Here she is caught as she launches off the perch after a prey item.

1DX---840mm---f6.3---ss 1/2500th---ISO640---Handheld from truck@ 7:15am---25%crop

Thanks as always for looking and for your input. I appreciate it.

David

[Isaac Grant]

Man is this good!!! Love the raised wings and that stare. I'd hate to be on the business end of that stare :S3:

Details look perfect with beautiful soft feathers, a great perch and separation from the background. The only thing I am not crazy about is the white fluffy area that is touching the birds wing. Pretty sure I would just clone that out.

[Raybel Robles]

This is superb! great pose, colors, BG and IQ. The only thing if at all, the crop is just a bit too square for me, a sure easy fix if you wish to do. Other than that this is a top notch photo.

[David Salem]

Thanks Issac and Raybel!! Glad you like her.

The light blue in the upper right is a water puddle. I guess I could have cloned it out but I didn't take the time to "cut" around the primaries so I left it in as it didn't really bother me.

I usually compose my images for the web as they look best to my eye and don't worry about conforming to a specific format.
On the other hand I do allot of printing and then I am stuck with the printers formatting size for a book or a print.
I would probably print this in a 4X3 and not a 2X3 as I want to concentrate on the nice details and intensity of the bird. I think a 2X3 would have to much negative space in front of the bird for this image IMO. Also she is looking at me so this helps in needing less space in front of the bird, once again IMO.

Thanks again for your valuable input!!

[arash_hazeghi]

Killer shot Dave, wish I was there when you took this one

I'd tone down the brightest whites just a tad BTW

[Daniel Cadieux]

I agree with Isaac word for word:S3:. I love the subtle grass streaks in lower left edge.

[Bill Dix]

Perfect take-off pose, with just a hint of head turn. Lovely multi-colored bg. Feels just a tiny bit bright on my screen, but certainly not blown.

[Jack Backs]

Beautiful image, great pose. Nothing to quibble with here.

[Tim Foltz]

Dave, another classic shot from the truck blind, this is clean with a nice BG, pose and sharp details.

-Tim

[David Salem]

Thanks everyone