attention

[John Chardine]

Earlier this summer a friend and I decided to try to capture Ospreys feeding in a local river. The birds cooperated. This one is hovering (I am sure this is true hovering and not just "kiting" in the wind) and its gaze if fixed on a fish in the water below- hence little eye contact possible.

This is a heavy crop of the original image. The eye was in shadow so I brightened it up a little (Levels after quick mask) and increased the saturation to bring out the colour. Not sure in this case whether a little more room at the bottom would be better as the bird is looking down and about to plummet.

40D. 500mm f4, 1.4 tc = 700mm
capture date: Wednesday, July 2, 2008 4:27:11 PM
exposure program: Manual
ISO speed: 400
shutter speed: 1/1250
aperture: f6.3
exposure bias: +0.0
metering: Pattern

[Ramon M. Casares]

I would've liked more room at the bottom and to the right, but as presented looks great, the pose and sharpness (for a heavy crop) are great! Exposure is fantastic too. Congratulations!

[Alfred Forns]

Did real well with the light John !!!

Agree with having a little more room at the bottom of the frame. Do like the intense hanging pose, just having the sun lower in the horizon would have helped. I like it a lot !!

[Daniel Cadieux]

I like it too, and I don't mind the lack of eye contact because the Osprey is obviously concentrating on something else. I might tone down the white on the near wing to match the lower intensity of the far one. All-in-all very cool!

[Linda Robbins]

I really like the hovering pose,and the image looks great for a large crop. Perhaps a tad more room at the bottom, but I like it as presented. Well done.

[John Chardine]

Here's a version with more room at the bottom. Many thanks as always for all the positive comments!

[Glenn Bartley]

Neat pose. He sure is focussed.

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

Hi John,
Repost puts it over the top for me. Hope your trip to Scotland was fruitful!!
Regards,
Nicki

[Sabyasachi Patra]

My vote for the second image