African Hawk-Eagle

[Chris van Rooyen]

Hi guys

I've not been able to spend any time on the site lately due to work deadlines. I did however manage to break away for three days to the Kruger National Park last week. I got this African Hawk-Eagle taking off from the side of the road, a species I have been wanting to photograph for years!

Camera Model: NIKON D3S
Date/Time: 2011:02:10 08:18:46
Shutter speed: 1/3200 sec
Aperture: 8
Exposure mode: Manual
Metering mode: Multi-segment
ISO: 800
Lens: VR 200-400mm f/4G
Focal length: 400mm

[Robert Amoruso]

Beautiful looking birds. Whites look great and having the clouds in the sky a real plus. Dark back wing good as it gave the beak and head separation. Otherwise they would have gotten lost in a merge.

I would try a reverse s-curve to lower contrast somewhat.

[Pieter de Waal]

Nice incoming angle of approach Chris with good eye contact. Like the wing positions and the clouds are a nice touch.

[Stu Bowie]

Tack sharp Chris, and good to see the underwing detail from the near wing. Not easy to capture BIF from a vehicle, unless you were in an open vehicle.

[Vivaldo Damilano]

Fantastic shot Chris, the bird must have been very close to you when he took off. I like the good detail on the eagles face, love the cloud in the BG and upright wings TFS :cheers::cheers:

[Dumay de Boulle]

What a fantastic image...Great exposure and IQ... Saw plenty of them on the reserve I used to work on (Makalali) in Limpopo...But always struggled to get a decent image of one...Had a really nice sighting about 4weeks ago had a pair hunting and perching about 5m from my game viewer...I was shooting them at 70-100mm...Thanks for sharing this great image Chris.

[Doug Brown]

Great eye contact and your usual excellent sharpness. The cloud in the RLC adds a lot to the image.

[Tony Whitehead]

Superb eye contact and powerful pose, Chris. Agree that the cloud adds a lot to the image.

[Ken Watkins]

I actually saw these for the first time in January in Savute, a pair, thoroughly soaked after a torrential hailstorm. Very high up and very little light, so it is great to see one in such detail:cheers::cheers:

Love the cloud.