Red-Shouldered Hawk pair

[Cheryl Slechta]

I finally had time to work on another ETL image. I changed WB, did curves, nr, usm and worked on the eyes.
Thanks for looking. Comments and suggestions appreciated.:S3:

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Cherly,

What are the techs, always helpful. Overall I like it, might take a tad from the top. Maybe crop out the black area middle of top edge. Love the pic - very regal.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Jeff, sorry, I left them off. Canon 7D, 100-400L, f/5.6, 1/160sec., ISO 400, tripod. Thanks for the comment.:S3:

[Bob Pelkey]

I like how you have the birds lower in the frame which gives the illusion,
in this case, of them closer than they are. Post processing seems dramatic.

[dankearl]

Very nice colors and sharpness.
I like the habitat as well.
Nice work.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Cheryl,

Greetings. Cool pair of red-shouldered... great angle (I've been frustrated by the nest I know of but the hawks are always way up in the tree tops. Sigh). I like the pattern mirrored in the red parts of the bg.

I find the edginess and brightness of the moss and branches a bit distracting. A curve pulling down the highlights (flattening them) with the birds masked out would fix that and would pop the birds nicely.

Thanks for posting...

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Cheryl, very nice pair of hawks indeed! If I'm not mistaken I have seen this one in another incarnation... :c3:

Lots to like about the image, starting with the excellent matching poses and great good fortune to have the heads so close together so your f/5.6 was able to give you four sharp eyes! Colors and exposure are excellent and the image tells the story nicely. Michael has a good point about the moss and branches. There are several ways you could go about minimizing their contribution to the image, including using the blur tool or even a dark vignette applied very lightly. I would also consider cropping from the top to eliminate the dark areas up there which compete for the eye's attention. Very nice work and an excellent natural history image!

[Brendan Dozier]

Beautiful capture, Cheryl! Their matching pose, moss habitat, and vertical frame, make for a very nice composition. Good suggestions above. Well done! :S3:

[Cheryl Slechta]

Thanks everyone for your comments and suggestions. I tried to incorporate them - desaturated and slightly blurred the bg and cropped from the top. I hope this is an improvement.

[Kerry Perkins]

Cheryl, very solid repost and it looks great to me. Good job!

[Brendan Dozier]

Looks great, Cheryl!

[Daniel Bailey]

Great capture indeed!