RT Hawk Takeoff

[John Guastella]

Taken at the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary in Irvine, CA last December.

The original image was badly underexposed - the camera probably metered on the sky (?). I think I managed to salvage the photo, and although it seems some detail has been lost, I felt the takeoff pose was dramatic enough to post.

Canon 7D and the 400mm f/5.6 lens. Aperture priority; center-wgt metering; f/5.6; 1/6400sec; ISO 640.

Thanks for looking,

John

[Doug Brown]

San Joaquin is one of my favorite places to photograph! Super sharpness and great pose. You were certainly metering the sky to get 1/6400 in Av mode. I'm surprised you were able to recover as much as you did with the 7D. I might darken the sky a little and give the bird a little contrast boost.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

John, very good IQ considering this is an iso640 shot that was underexposed. The wing spread, tail spread and subject placement is top-notch. Thx for sharing.

[Katie Rupp]

Very nice salvage, John! I agree with Doug re a little contrast boost.

[Stu Bowie]

Good angled flying posture, and great to see the full wingspan. Good detail throughout.

[Pieter de Waal]

John, Lovely wing and tail spread. Good IQ and defenition, you did well to recover. Also agree with a little more contrast.

[John Guastella]

Thanks, everyone. Here is a repost with a slight contrast boost and a slightly darker sky.

John

[Doug Brown]

The repost is a big improvement. Nicely done!

[Martin Wallis]

Love the repost. Wing spread and eye contact are awesome. Great position in frame.

[Duane Noblick]

Great recovery and great repost...love the wing spread and the sharpness.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Very good improvement on the repost! I'd probably lighten the top wing to have equal tonality between the two. Awesome tail spread.

[John Guastella]

Thanks for the additional feedback, everyone. Daniel, I lightened the upper wing quite a bit already, so I was concerned that any further lightening was going to bring out some noise. But I will give it a try...

John

[Charles Scheffold]

The full wingspread is great - repost is a big improvement on the sky. Nice capture.

Charles