Bosque Harrier

[Doug Brown]

I had a great day with my son at the Bosque yesterday. We ran into Artie's IPT group in the afternoon and decided to pull over and join them for a while. I was talking to Robert O'Toole when a beautiful Northern Harrier flew right by us. I grabbed my camera and squeezed off a few frames. The wing position is a little unconventional but I think it works.

http://birdwhisperer.smugmug.com/Animals/Birds/BPN/20091121-MG2617-Northern/720275237_BkVkR-O-2.jpg

Canon 7D, 600mm + 1.4x, f/7.1, 1/2500, ISO 400, manual exposure, hand held

[Daniel Cadieux]

Good grab shot! I like the light, exposure, and sharpness. Good warm tones on the harrier. I do find the face merging a little too much with the far wing though.

[Stu Bowie]

I like the light and warm colours Doug, and good sharp detail. Excellent work for a grab shot with a 600mm. Well done.

[Danny J Brown]

Great shot Doug, and nice example of how the harrier's landing gear is retracted into the fuselage during flight!

[Fabs Forns]

Very nice light and profile, not crazy about wings or merger. Glad you got your son into bird photography :)

[Morkel Erasmus]

this is great Doug! love the sharpness, colour and light, and even though there's some merging I find the head popping out nicely.

[Doug Brown]

and even though there's some merging I find the head popping out nicely.

For it to work for me, the beak needed separation from the wing.

[James Salywoda]

It works for me I don't mind the wing position always great when one of these birds just show up. Well Done!
I see them around but have not had any close encounters in awhile..... See You Soon things should be good when you get here.:cool:

[Art Kornienko]

Yes, it does seem to work, the intense look is really great as is the light, I guess your're not having any AF issues, curious if you ran any NR on the shot.

[Doug Brown]

I guess your're not having any AF issues, curious if you ran any NR on the shot.

No AF issues Art. I ran NR on the BG only.

[david cramer]

Very nice grab of this beautiful raptor. So now you are hand holding a 600mm with a tc attached! Nice exposure too.

[John Blumenkamp]

Awesome capture Doug... I like the wing position - since these raptors have so many variations in their position when flying, it's great to see them all in my opinion. :) Great detail and light. If you're back in Utah this winter, I'll pick your brain for tips handheld flight shot techniques now that I'm shooting with longer glass... lol.

[Kiran Poonacha]

nice details and light here doug.. keep them coming.