Red-tailed Hawk in Flight

[Raymond Barlow]

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
D300 / 200-400 VR
1/800s f/4.0 at 400.0mm iso250

hand held, natural light, slight crop.

We watched this bird capture a vole, eat it behind some weeds, and I was ready for its lift off! then it posed for 200 more frames... and a mature bird too., so I thought this was cool... then we found a Short-eared in a grapery, and some more fun with the light snowfall. Nice to have a good day, since I was busted yesterday!

[Arthur Morris]

You have done a good job of gettting focus through the trunk and the branches and I like that about the image. From your exposure data and the light it seems that the original must have been underexposed but not much noise. Why not a higher ISO? Love the pose though the bird is partially hidden. Darkening the pupil and lightening the iris would increase the apparent sharpness.

[Raymond Barlow]

thanks Artie.. Your critique is appreciated.

I only go above iso 250 when I am truely in really dim light, and I need the speed., most of my images are ios 200-250. My editing skills are pretty limited, and I do not have much fun struggling with noise. This image was if anything over exposed I think, I did need to do some work to darken it, to bring out some contrast., which also helped the snow show a little better.

take care

[Jim Fenton]

Why are you restricting yourself to 200-250 with the D300?

I'm routinely creating images with it in all kinds of light at ISO 800 and I have no issues with it at all.

As far as this image goes, while I do like the pose, the snow and the environmental surroundings, the obstruction on the birds right wing (our left) was a bit too much of a deternet for my eyes.

Believe me...I know they don't always fly cleanly :)

[Raymond Barlow]

Why are you restricting yourself to 200-250 with the D300?

I'm routinely creating images with it in all kinds of light at ISO 800 and I have no issues with it at all.

As far as this image goes, while I do like the pose, the snow and the environmental surroundings, the obstruction on the birds right wing (our left) was a bit too much of a deternet for my eyes.

Believe me...I know they don't always fly cleanly :)

Thanks for the comments Jim., I am just not liking the noise above iso 250., I am able to create images I am happy with at lower shutter speeds, with the ability do do some cropping with the lower iso, if needed.

Yes, lots of the bird is hidden behind the trees and branches, but that is the concept of the shot... the next frame the birds head was totally blocked, but the next frame is cool with the landing pose, talons out.

Imo, at 800 iso in this dull overcast light, the images would not be worth editing., maybe if I had the new 500 f4 vr, I would try some higher iso's, with such superb glass.

take care