Immature Red Tail Clutching Pine Cone

[Sean McMahon]

Got him in between two stops of an organized birding walk. Saw him on top of a telephone pole and stopped the car and got out.

Didn't notice the pine cone in his grasp until I got home and downloaded.

A toy?

A gift for a first date?

I like his eye/ catchlight, and the blue sky. Cropped to have him looking into the frame.

Kind of simple, maybe could use some more visual interest???

What do you think?

Happy Shooting!

Sean
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Handheld
Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT
Lens: Canon 75-300mm f/5.6
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/1600)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 300 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 1/3 EV

[James Salywoda]

A very nice shot Sean I would probably crop this in tighter and on a vertical eliminating the negative space on the left and just a touch more USM....

[Lana Hays]

Sean
I've never seen one with a pine cone in the talon so I don't know what that was about. I think this one came out pretty well.....was this harsh lighting? It's pretty nice detail but I'm wondering if it was a large crop. I like James' suggestion on cropping.

[Alfred Forns]

Agree with previous Can add you could select the blue bg and reduce noise Doing so for the overall image would soften the bird !!!

You did well dialing some Plus comp for the exposure A bit of fill flash would have been nice For that you probably had to reduce your ss to reach !!! With the suggested crop it will have a much stronger visual interest A very nice image !!!!

[Gus Cobos]

Very nice image Sean love the composition.. Try catching him on a vertical next time around...:D

Congrats...:D:D:D

Gus...:cool: