Bald eagle in ultimate attack mode: coming down!

[Clemens Vanderwerf]

This image was created in the morning with overcast skies at China Poot Bay near Homer, Alaska. The moment they start there attack they throw themselves upside down and start the glide down to the prey.

This image was created with the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens and Canon 1.4x TC II at 185mm, and the EOS-1DMIV. ISO 640. Evaluative metering: 1/1250 sec. at f/5.6 set manually. Full frame.

All comments are welcome.

Thanks for looking.

[Haim Ziv]

WOW!! killer shot. :cheers::cheers:

[Sudhir Shivaram]

Brilliant !!! Never seen anything like this before. The composition/placement has worked very well here.

[Steven Kersting]

Excellent shot! This is FF taken at 185mm? Dang! I wish I could get that close to birds.

Was the BG manipulated? It looks to me like it probably was, but done very well.

[Bob Pelkey]

Stunning shot. Great skill required.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Impressive composition for FF! Love the pose, and of course the high-key effect:S3: The yellow bill and feet pop nicely. I'd be tempted to lessen the feather damage on the 5th feather of top wing as the tip seems completely separated from the rest...

[Arthur Morris]

Clemens. You are getting better and better. As above, this is spectacular. Processing is spot on. When you created the image were you on a tour or a trip??? I especially love the position of the head--it is just perfect! And I love the placement of the bird in the frame. Did you add any canvas/move the bird?

Haim, When you toast an image please let us know why you love it. We are trying to avoid becoming a "great shot" forum. Thank you sir.

[Clemens Vanderwerf]

Clemens. You are getting better and better. As above, this is spectacular. Processing is spot on. When you created the image were you on a tour or a trip??? I especially love the position of the head--it is just perfect! And I love the placement of the bird in the frame. Did you add any canvas/move the bird?

Haim, When you toast an image please let us know why you love it. We are trying to avoid becoming a "great shot" forum. Thank you sir.

Artie, Thanks! As a matter of fact you were standing next to me when I took this photo on the in-between day of the recent excellent Homer IPT. Did not add any canvas or move the bird. Not an easy one to make, as I had plenty of misses!

[Clemens Vanderwerf]

Excellent shot! This is FF taken at 185mm? Dang! I wish I could get that close to birds.

Was the BG manipulated? It looks to me like it probably was, but done very well.

Steven, the BG is just the overcast white sky. I exposed for the eagle, made sure that I did not had any blinkies on the eagle's white head, but obviously the sky is overexposed and without detail. The eagles were very close as we were shooting from a boat (Artie's Homer IPT in March). Typically, a 70-200 with 1.4x was enough to get these type of shots.

[Greg Basco]

Clemens, this is awesome. Composition in-camera puts it over the top for me. Congrats!

Cheers,
Greg Basco

[Stu Bowie]

Superb inflight pre-attack posture. I like the placement in the frame, and overall nice and sharp. Well captured.

[Arthur Morris]

Was the BG manipulated? It looks to me like it probably was, but done very well.

Clemens has been on many IPTs. He know how to get the right exposure on white sky days, thus the background is not at all manipulated.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Clemens, what an incredible pose....and hats off to you for doing an in-camera comp. like this. stunning, to say the least. There is so little room for the bill not to merge....you sure nailed this one.