Bald Eagle

[David Ornstein]

40D manual mode, 100-400L IS AF @ 400mm - f/5.6, hand-held, 1/1250, ISO 800

Hello All - This is my first post at BPN. I'm an amateur a bit past the novice level. Any feedback will be appreciated and valued. Thanks, David

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Welcome, David! Pose, details and light are great. The trunk(s) are a bit dominant and it needs a bit more room at the bottom. I might be tempted to clone out the trunks if that is something you do. Keep them coming!

[Jim Poor]

Welcome aboard! I'm really fond of Eagles and I like this. For high in the sky afternoon sun, the exposure looks pretty good and the shadows under the wings are not as bad as I would expect at 2:47 PM.

I would add just a bit of canvass at the bottom so that the talon isn't touching the edge of the frame. I go back and forth about the tree to the left, but I think it adds more interest than distraction so if I had to say one way or another I'd probably leave it. How's that for wishy washy? ;)

If the bird would have looked at you instead of where he was going ;) that little bit of head turn would be great for eye contact.

[Alfred Forns]

Big Welcome Neighbor !!!!!

Agree with previous Particularly like the exp Detail in the shadows while keeping the whites in check !!! For this I keep the shutter down to obtain the best possible wing position I like this a lot

Will be at Anhinga all weekend teaching Action is not red hot but fun enough to photograph !!!!

[David Ornstein]

Thanks everyone. I'm going erase the tree and put some sky under the feet. I'll post that tomorrow if it counts as a 1-a-day. May I post it as a reply to myself in the same thread?

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Thanks everyone. I'm going erase the tree and put some sky under the feet. I'll post that tomorrow if it counts as a 1-a-day. May I post it as a reply to myself in the same thread?

You don't have to wait a day if you reply to your own thread with a different version of the image.

[David Ornstein]

Thanks.

How does one look at the EXIF for posted photos?

[David Ornstein]

Thanks Alfred.
I live near Riviera & Blue. Are we close or or somewhat distant neighbors?
I might run into you at Anhinga on Sat.

[Jeff Nadler]

I love the action. Not sure it's just my LCD since no one else mentioned this, but since the eagle's body is much sharper than the head, I wonder if the focus point was below the head.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Thanks.

How does one look at the EXIF for posted photos?

You can for example get the free version of the Opanda EXIF Viewer. Most images posted here don't have the EXIF included, though.

[Jim Poor]

I use Firefox as a browser and there is an Exif reader plugin for it. A quick right click or control click will bring up the menu.

[David Ornstein]

I'm not sure I can clearly see the difference in sharpness between head and body, but I wonder if contrast in the feathers of the body help its sharpness appearance. I'm not sure where the exact focus center was placed. At my stage of development (first time with a handheld long lens, first time using manual mode) I'm glad it was on the bird! A few questions, though: With 400mm @ f/5.6 from about 60-70 feet, would there be enough DOF to cover the whole bird in this pose? Should I have gone to f/8 or f/11 (or more)? Are DOF charts on the manufacturers' web sites? Thanks.

[David Ornstein]

I'm not completely happy with the area of the primaries on the right wing. I edited from the low-res jpeg that I posted. I realize now I should have started from the TIF I had saved with it. Maybe tonight. Thanks, everyone, for all the feedback,

[Axel Hildebrandt]

That looks much better. If the original was RAW, you could try to start from scratch. I'm not sure but it seems some details got lost in the reprocessing. A bit more sharpened it looks like this:

[Jim Poor]

Now that I've seen it both ways, I like the trees in version best. Maybe they could be moved a little lower and left, or the bird up and right, but I think they add to the image.

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

I really like Axel`s rework!