Peregrine falcon up-close!

[Jeff Nadler]

http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/2328/peregrine238v.jpg

almost full frame- Adirondack Mountains - wild subject.

Shutter speed: 1/200 sec
Aperture: 6.3
Exposure mode: Av
Exposure compensation: +1
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Evaluative
Drive mode: Continuous
ISO: 400
Lens: EF500mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x
Focal length: 700mm
Subject distance: 15 m
AF mode: AI Servo AF
Image size: 2592 x 3888
Image quality: Raw

[Jim Fenton]

Jeff...
Cool capture...is it a wild and free subject?

Love the background and it's even OOF characteristics.

The slight head turned saved this as you do have eye contact on one side.

The perch looks a bit hot to me and that could easily be burned in / toned down, whatever.

The falcon itself looks a tad washed out on the shoulders and the back of the head...perhaps a little contrast boost or selective color adjustment there? Also, the top of the beak and the yellows to the left side of it look hot as well.

[Bill Dix]

Great shot, with lovely bg. Interesting perspective, with nice sharp eye and good feather detail. Another stop might have kept the tip of the beak in focus, but you probably didn't want to lose any more SS. Amazing to get this close to a Peregrine, unless he was captive. A few hot spots in the image noted above. Slightly lower capture angle might have made this even better.

[arash_hazeghi]

very nice pose and BG, good plumage details. looks like the beak is slightly OOF.

TFS, one of my favorite species.

[Jeff Nadler]

of course, a wild subject. You can tell by the angle it was perched lower than me along the cliffs as i wlaked the trail above. But as I got extremely close, it did not fly off. No idea if a nest site exists where it was.

[Lorant Voros]

Nicely done, Jeff. Love this bird and you captured it well with the pose and nice BG. I love how it is looking at you. Well done.

Lorant

[John Ippolito]

Pretty nice find, Jeff! Nice detail, managing to get eye contact, and a clean BG.

[Danny J Brown]

Jeff - How exciting to come up on one this close and get it full frame. Very nice shot with great detail.

DB

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

What an encounter! beautiful bird and killer BG. Agree about toning down the perch.

[Melvin Grey]

A very nice chance encounter, Jeff. Nice lighting giving a very three dimensional feel to the bird and good clean colours. A pity he was below your eye line as this has foreshortened the bird's body. I am intrigued by the comments about 'eye contact'. I take 'eye contact' to mean that the bird is actually looking at you - please correct me if you do not agree. All raptors have forward facing eyes which gives them binocular vision - essential for hunting their prey. This bird is obviously looking to your left. I also noted that you actually stated it was a WILD subject. Well done.

[Leandro Herrainz]

i like this picture, the light and the bg are really good, a like more space to the left side