Cooper's Hawk

[Brian Barcelos]

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2561/4068178999_b8435e42ed_o.jpg

Another Bird of Prey residing in the cemetery close to my house. She let me get unbelievably close without flying off. Yesterday was very dark/cloudy which made it a little difficult to get a nice overall exposure but I don't think I did that bad? Not sure if the vertical branch competes too much for attention here. I cloned out a few branches underneath and above. This is almost full frame and hand held as always.

Thanks for looking, all C/C appreciated

Canon EOS 50D
Aperture-Priority AE
Tv 1/800
Av 6.3
Evaluative Metering
Exposure Comp +1
ISO Speed 500
Tamron 200-500mm
Focal Length 500.0 mm

[Ed Schneider]

Very nice, Brian. Love the licheny perch (near water?), but could easily lose the vertical branch. Obviously a higher POV would be better, but with raptors we have to take what we can get :)

TFS!

[Clement Francis]

What a beautiful looking raptor this.

[Gal Shon]

A beautiful raptor and perch. good sharpness and I love the her look.
The dark / cloudy weather comes through nicely, though I would lighten the image a little bit.
I think that a vertical crop may work here, without the vertical branch.

[Doug Brown]

Hi Brian. I like the eye contact and the perch, although I'd be tempted to remove the vertical branch. Exposure-wise, I think you're probably close to 2/3 of a stop underexposed. A little faster shutter speed probably would have sharpened things up a bit too. Here's a repost with some brightening, sharpening, and branch removal.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Brian, lovely looking bird, and I like the inquisitive stare. I can see this as a vertical too, and I would go between your OP and Doug's repost.

[Bill Dix]

Wonderfully majestic shot of a Cooper's. Repost makes it jump.

[arash_hazeghi]

Nice shot Brian, you did well here. Doug's repost is an improvement, in these situations I would dial even more +EC . If you have the RAW it is worth a revisit to shed the vertical branch and do level adjustment. TFS

[Arthur Morris]

I just love adult Cooper's and am envious <smile> Very good repost by Doug but a bit too light. Doug, you need to learn to use Refine Edge to avid the cookie cutter edge where you lost the VERT. There is a tutorial at least in a fairly recent Bulletin and maybe in the ER. I'd likely crop to from the left to a near-SQ if it were mine.

[Brian Barcelos]

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. After I watch this weeks episode of Dexter I'll change it around and re post.;)

[Harshad Barve]

lovely image and nice pose by raptor , would love to see your version of repost
TFS

[Brian Barcelos]

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2784/4070966998_858ba85f6b_o.jpg

Here is my re post. Lightened him up a bit, removed the vert. branch and sharpened a little more. Hope it's better.

Ed, no water near by, ocean is about two miles away and closest fresh water source about the same. It sure has rained a lot up here this year though.

Doug, thanks for taking the time man. I thought about removing the perch in the first place but at the same time thought it had some character. After your removal I realized it was quite overpowering.

Artie, no need to be envious, I'm sure you got much better images of Coops' in your files.;) If not you can come up here and join me in my cemetery drive byes. He's been around a lot lately, along with a Merlin, Red-tailed Hawk and a lot of N. Flickers.

[Kiran Poonacha]

I would have loved to see a vertical crop too, nice details and pose captured brother. the moss adds well to the frame.. congrats