White Tipped Bald Eagle

[Matt Shetzer]

Hello All. I wanted to share and open for Critique a shot from my winter in Alaska as I finally complete my work ups.

Thanks for the help on achieving the best possible images.

Matt Shetzer
Shetzers Photography

White Tips. This Bald Eagle has Leucism, a very unusual condition whereby the pigmentation cells in this bird fail to develop properly. This can result in unusual white patches appearing on the animal. This eagles wing tips have gone white, as well as its talons. It is one of the most beautiful birds in flight as the wing tips really accent its motion.

[Randy Stout]

Matt:

The white wing tips do make for a most unusual bald eagle shot. There was a reddish egret at Little Estero with many white feathers mixed in with the grey. I have seen him there before.

Nice angle in the frame, giving us both a ventral and dorsal view of the wings.
I am on my work computer which makes it hard to accurately judge white exposure, but the tail looks a bit hot.

In a perfect world, I would prefer the background to be all leaves, or all dark, not a mix. The bird does pop pretty well from the leaves.

Please be sure to include your camera/lens detail and any post processing you have done. This really helps us understand how the image was created and allows more accurate critiques.

Cheers

Randy

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Matt,
Cool find! I agree with Randy on the whites.....could have been in PP'ing to so have a check on that. If you are ok with such things....blurring/patching/or even toning down some of the twigs in the dark area will go a long way in taking this up a notch. Still an unusual capture so thatnks for sharing it!

[Matt Shetzer]

Randy,
Thanks for the tips. I think the tail is blown out. I agree on the background. Unfortunetly, I only had a small opportunity to photograph this one. Here is the info on settings.

Nikon d300, 500 f/4, 1/1250sec at f/4. ISO 800. Adjust WB, crop, darken edges.

Matt

[Randy Stout]

Matt:

Thanks for the tech. info. I think it is great you got to image this one! I would be thrilled to have seen it, even with the so/so background!

Cheers

Randy

[Richard Pittam]

Maybe a slight touch of GBlur on the background? An astonishing shot though, and one I would love to bag!

[Daniel Bailey]

Beautiful bird!!! A rare treasure to see much less photograph... and nicely at that!

[Todd Frost]

Nice sighting of an unusual bird. Nice wing position and comp. Bg mentioned. Well done.
TFS
Todd

[Joerg Rockenberger]

Really nice capture of such an exotic. Too bad about the background but nice "pop". JR

[Michael Lotito]

Really nice find! You got a great shot out of it also. I would love one like this.

[Matt Shetzer]

Thanks for all the help and CC everyone ! I've reworked the image, and cloned the background as well as applied some GB to it. It is certainly a big improvement


Matt
Shetzers Photography

[Mike Tracy]

The bird is gorgeous and I like the framing, The repost is moving in the right direction but there are too many repetitious areas.