Sharp shinned hawk

[gail bisson]

This lovely sharpie landed by our bird feeders. He patrolled our backyard for 3 days in a row and hasn't come back since. The first day he perched on our wooden fence. This allowed for a great clean BG but the fence wasn't very photogenic. The second day, he landed in a tree but the BG was full of tree limbs. Finally, on the 3rd day he landed in a more favorable spot. Still some specular highlights but I like this one as he looked directly at me. I'm not sure if I should selectively brighten the bird a bit more?
Canon 7D
100-400mm at 400mm
Subject distance about 8 feet
ISO 200
SS 1/360
F 5.6
Full frame
HH
Critiques always appreciated and learned from

[noelle zaleski]

Great find Gail!

To me the bird does not dominate the image as it should. I am sure others can chime in on ways you can achieve this.

The bird definitely needs to pop more.

With that said I wish to find this guy someday :bg3:

[Karl Egressy]

Gail,

Brightening the dark areas selectively in the bird would be worth of a try. What bothers me more are the dark spots in the background.
When you separate the bird , you might try to work on those spots in the background as well.
It is a good idea to create a separate layer for the background and the bird.
Beside these, the picture looks very nice.

[Chad Caswell]

Great find Gail, and it sounds like he gave you some time to photograph him even if it wasn't in the best of locations. :S3: Sometimes you just need to sit back and enjoy the moment and forget about the photos :t3 I would brighten the eyes on the bird some along with pushing the contrast some more in the chest area where you see the red feathers. I would also like to see the shot without the sticks behind the bird as well. :c3:

Nice find

Chad

[Arthur Morris]

Love adult sharpies. This one is sharp with a good EXP but needed some massaging. I did pretty much everything suggested above plus I took out a few extraneous branches. All using Quick Masks, Dodge and Burn, the Patch Tool, the Clone Stamp Tool, Curves, Layer Masks, Eye Doctor Techniques, and Layers all as described in Digital Basics (https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=252).

[gail bisson]

Thanks Artie. I am on page 54 of digital basics so I haven't gotten to quick masks, patch tool etc:eek: I like your repost a lot so will work to reproduce it.
Gail

[DarrenMcKenna]

Lovely shot Gail

[Randy Stout]

Gail:

Great pose, eye contact, attractive bird.

Fill flash, used subtly, would have been your best friend here.

Cheers

Randy

[Geoff Warnock]

Lovely image, and I probably would have tried to remove the same branches that Arthur did.

Would you mind sharing more info about how you got within 8 feet? Are you in a back garden hide, or were you able to walk/stalk closer?

We have had a few sightings of a sparrow hawk in our garden but I would most likely need to rush out in plain sight.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Artie. I am on page 54 of digital basics so I haven't gotten to quick masks, patch tool etc:eek: I like your repost a lot so will work to reproduce it.
Gail

YAW. It will take some time, study, and practice, but you will get there. Yes to Randy's fill flash suggestion.

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Lovely shot , I would say . Just that you got a very busy and difficult BG .

[gail bisson]

Hi Geoff,
I saw the sharpie so took pictures leaning out of our patio door, then I kept the camera to my face and walked out slowly onto the deck and advanced 2 feet at a time. He didn't fly away so I walked off the deck and he still didn't fly so I just walked up to him!! He didn't care at all that I was there!!
In hindsight I should have used fillflash as suggested but I was afraid he would fly away if I fired the flash. Next time...
Gail

[christopher galeski]

very nice Gail,pity about the BG being a bit destracting,but still a nice shot,nice pose,Arthur's repost as helped this shot.thanks.

[Randy Stout]

Gail:

Most birds don't seem to be bothered by the flash, or will just twitch a bit. I have used flash on captive raptors without problems. Occasionally I will have an individual bird that seems spooked by flash, but not as a general rule.

Might be a good place to take a few without, and then try to use flash to get a different look.

Cheers

Randy

[Mark Itol]

Gail, I like the bird's mean stare. The background is distracting, though.

I like Artie's repost with the bird brighter.