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PeterGruener
10-22-2008, 01:56 PM
Hi,

It has been a long time since my last post but I wanted to share some pictures from our last trip to the Tetons and Yellowstone. Here I would like to start with an immature bald eagle. Unfortunately the right wing was clipped a little bit.

http://gp-photography.de/photokorn/photos/170/23859842/09222008_GrandTetonNP_428.jpg

Canon 1D Mark II, 500mm f1/4 1/400s ISO 100
C&C's to improve my (our) technique are greatly appreciated.

Peter
Doug Brown
10-22-2008, 04:24 PM
Great wing detail and sharpness. The clipped wing is easy enough to fix if you're so inclined. Robert O'Toole's disk explains it nicely. I would lighten the iris a little. The bright diagonal line caused by the shore is a little distracting to me. And I might tone down the water a bit.
Arthur Morris
10-22-2008, 06:43 PM
Ah, the original was so nice and sharp that I spent some time creating something nicer... Let's see what I can remember: expanded canvas with the crop tool, leveled it a bit, filled in with Quick Masks, Patch Tool, and Clone Stamp. Selected water with a Qm and darkened with Linear burn. Lightened face with a QM. Not enough pixels to work on the eye.

If you really want to learn get a copy of our Digital Bascis and Robert O'Toole's APTATS CD. Everything I did is in those two.
Aidan Briggs
10-22-2008, 06:45 PM
Nice action. Too bad about the wing. I might lighten the bird and darken the water a bit. Also I would push your ISO to 200 or 400 for flight images, as 1/400 won't let you obtain as many sharp images as a higher shutter speed would.
Judy Lynn Malloch
10-22-2008, 07:09 PM
Great repost Artie !!! Love the banking pose in this image and it was definitely worth working on. Great timing and thanks for sharing Peter.
Bob Blanchard
10-22-2008, 07:37 PM
Great re-do on that Artie! I was even thinking that maybe just a bit more blur on the BG (10 px gaussian) and some clone stamp touch-up on the dark spots would keep the eye from wandering off the bird here.

http://catcheroflight.smugmug.com/photos/400329331_kC7Bn-X3.jpg
PeterGruener
10-23-2008, 04:33 AM
Hello,

Thanks for all the comments and I feel really honored that the image was well recognized among the best bird photographers of the world. I really should get the stuff Artie recommended. As always once I return from vacation my regular job embraces me with plenty of work. The image I posted was developed on my laptop right away from the hotel and uploaded to our website. With your inspiring comments it is time to take a look at the original image and see what I can do.

Peter