A young Cooper's Hawk

[Julien Brisson]

Hi everybody,

This is my second post here.

Your C&C will be appreciated !

Thanks

Bonne journée !

Julien Brisson

http://www.pbase.com/julienbrisson

iso500, 1/25, F/5,6, Handheld
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/5585/cooopppeeerrr.jpg

[Jonathan Ashton]

Beautiful detail and colours,
(I don't wish to rain on your parade but shots like this make me think the legs are obscured because they have jessies on them - please forgive my saying so if this is not the case).

[Fabs Forns]

Very nice portrait that could also work as a vertical. A slight head turn towards you would have looked even better.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Light, setting and eye contact look very good. I might have turned the camera for a vertical position.

[john jackson]

I like the composition with the out of focus close pine bottom left and the faraway gaze (contra Fabs' taste in head angle). You captured lots of nice detail and excellent sharpness for such a very slow shutter speed handheld, which makes me wonder if it was a long lens or not? And hence back to Jonathan's question...

No offence meant Julien: if it is a captive bird it is a nice photo and if the bird is wild and free, it is superb.

[Julien Brisson]

I like the composition with the out of focus close pine bottom left and the faraway gaze (contra Fabs' taste in head angle). You captured lots of nice detail and excellent sharpness for such a very slow shutter speed handheld, which makes me wonder if it was a long lens or not? And hence back to Jonathan's question...

No offence meant Julien: if it is a captive bird it is a nice photo and if the bird is wild and free, it is superb.

Sorry for my English, I am French. The photo was taken in the nature with my 300mm + 1,4x tc. This is not a captive bird. The young bird was not fearful and I was approximately 15 feet of him. All my photos are taken in the nature and I never use baits or preys (you can see my photos on my website). I am teaching in Biology and the ecology and the respect for the biodiversity are very important for me.

Thank you very much

What is jessie?

[Jonathan Ashton]

Jessies are the little leather restraints tied to the legs of captive birds of prey. I accept your bird is wild and it is a fine shot, I did not intend any disrespect with my comments referring to jessies, (it is commonplace when taking captive bird images to attempt to hide them or clone them, though one should of course clearly indicate under these circumstances that the bird is captive)

[john jackson]

Thank you for your clarification Julien.

Superb image. Congratulations. It must have been a very special moment to be that close to such a bird.

Please accept my apologies for being so suspicious.

There are some very nice images on your website. I see that the composition here is reflected in the style of some of your other photos. I look forward to seeing more of your work.

John