Bald Eagle with Fish

[Doug Brown]

A juvenile Bald Eagle happened upon a fish in some shallow water. This particular frame shows the eagle as it landed in the water. I have a series of images from this encounter, and I'll be sharing at least one more photo later. It was early morning, and the light was great. I wasn't bothered by the shadow on the wing.

http://birdwhisperer.smugmug.com/photos/472042989_5vQCp-O.jpg

Canon 1D Mark III, 500mm, f/8, 1/2500, ISO 640, manual exposure, no flash, hand held from car

[Art Kornienko]

I like the calmness of the water and the entry is very nice but what I really like is the way the light is beak and eye. Very nice. Was the foreground reflection worth considering?

[Doug Brown]

Good question. I didn't have the entire reflection so I only included part of it.

[W T Lloyd]

Contact! Awesome shot, beautiful sharpness - amazing that it is handheld. I think you could bring it up a bit in shadow/highlights or better, in curves, as it seems just a bit dark - but my monitor currently isn't profiled, so that may just be me....

[Mike Lentz]

Wonderful light, sharpness and pose! Its nice to see an Eagle shot done so well.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great pose, details and moment captured. It looks quite dark on my monitor.

[Doug Brown]

I agree that the image is dark. But for me it works because of the great light on the head and the left side of the bird. IMO you don't always need a shadow-free, perfectly exposed bird. Some shadowing can create a sense of drama that otherwise is lost.

[bill kominsky]

Perfect as usual Doug not to dark nor to light, just right.

[Nate Chappell]

Beautiful shot Doug, the exposure looks great to me (not too dark). Great eye contact and wing spread.