Frozen Dinner

[Arthur Morris]

This image was created on the afternoon of October 28, 2011 on the Homer IPT that I am co-leading with Robert O'Toole. I used the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II lens and the 1.4X III TC (hand held at 205mm) with the Canon EOS-1D Mark IV . ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1/3 stop off the low blue sky: 1/3200 sec. at f/4.5 in Manual mode. Central Sensor/Rear-focus AI Servo AF active at the moment of exposure. If you missed the Rear Focus Tutorial, you can access it here (http://www.birdsasart-blog.com/2011/09/13/rear-focus-tutorial/). Lens/camera body Micro-adjustment: -8. (See the tutorial here (https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=304).)

Baited. We have switched from frozen herring to frozen small pollack. The gulls cannot swallow or fly off with the pollack so it is a much more effective bait. Plus, it is a prettier fish.

[Marina Scarr]

Love the pos here and boy is that eagle sharp as a tack! Lovely light and I really like the splash and dinner included. I think I would try a crop with less on the bottom and a tad more on the top.

I wonder if you could share why you chose F4.5 at such a close range of your subject, rather than upping the ISO a little or lowering your speed?

[Randy Stout]

Artie:

Great timing, lighting gives tremendous pop of the bird with separation from background. Interesting near wing position with enough showing underneath to make it work for me.
Nicely framed.

Cheers

Randy

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks both. It is still dark up here at 6:37am. Sunrise is a bit after 9am! Marina, D-O-F assuming about 40 feet to the subject is about 3 1/2 feet. Going to f/8 would almost double that. But as I see it, I do not need any additional d-o-f..... Are you seeing a need for it on the bird? And I far prefer ISO 400 to anything higher. And I like the really fast shutter speed :).

[Jonathan Ashton]

Artie you clearly indicate the thought behind this image, good images don't usually just happen. A fine shot the lighting ideally shows the fine detail in the bird, the fish and the splash of course add the finishing touch.

[Ken Watkins]

Beautiful light on this one, I can only agree on the need for a fast shutter speed when you are hand-holding, you will probably think I am an idiot but what breed of bird is this?

[Arthur Morris]

Beautiful light on this one, I can only agree on the need for a fast shutter speed when you are hand-holding, you will probably think I am an idiot but what breed of bird is this?

Bald Eagle. Lots of them in Homer :S3:.

[Ken Watkins]

Art,

Thanks for that, I thought it must be, they are very similar to our Fish Eagles, both in appearance and dining habits.:S3:

[Arthur Morris]

YAW. I thought of mentioning your fish eagles in my reply :S3:.

[Melissa Groo]

Excellent shot on all counts, Artie. Love that sweet sweet light and amazing tack sharp job capturing this action.

[Dan Behm]

Artie,
Exquisite light, The outstretched pose really displays all of the Eagle's attributes beautifully. Your lens choice and F/stop offered the perfect solution to capturing the action here while providing the stop action needed. Since the reflection is not strong, I cannot help but wonder how this image would look with some canvas removed at bottom and possibly a smidge added at top. A powerful image no doubt, wish it were mine!

Dan

[denise ippolito]

Artie, Sharp with a great exposure. Nice action captured-I do see one thing that we talked about, I'll wait and see if anyone else mentions it. Thank you for letting me come on this amazing trip!!:S3:

[Marina Scarr]

Thanks both. It is still dark up here at 6:37am. Sunrise is a bit after 9am! Marina, D-O-F assuming about 40 feet to the subject is about 3 1/2 feet. Going to f/8 would almost double that. But as I see it, I do not need any additional d-o-f..... Are you seeing a need for it on the bird? And I far prefer ISO 400 to anything higher. And I like the really fast shutter speed :).

I did not see a need for it at all. I was curious about how you knew you would have enough DOF at F4.5.

[arash_hazeghi]

dynamic pose, and splash plus the fish are great not to mention the sweet light. I wish the wings were fully raised and a shallower DOF for more separation between the eagle and the BG ripples although with the short lens you were using this was not possible.

[Gary Esman]

I do not want to go against the grain here but does this not need some serious CCW? Otherwise fantastic.

Gary.

[Alan Murphy]

I want some of that action!! Great timing and killer action.

[Don Lacy]

Sweet action I really like the trail of water behind the Eagle. Only thing I can think to make this a little better would be some separation between the head and far wing.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Hey Art,
This is wayy cool. The light on the closer wing is soo beautiful showing some great detail. You and Denise both got great shots with some really deep blue water. I want one of these too! BTW thanksfor sharing these useful tutorials with us. the rear focus is one i am working on

[Ofer Levy]

Very nice image !! Great action, light and colours. Judging by the base of the splash it needs some serious CW rotation - something like this.

[Arthur Morris]

Very nice image !! Great action, light and colours. Judging by the base of the splash it needs some serious CW rotation - something like this.

Thanks Ofer. Funny thing is that I did not notice the need for more than 7 degrees of rotation until I posted it here. I cannot believe that it got past so many good sets of eyes especially Level Randy! So I leveled it, added the needed canvas, and filled the white space in with some warped and transformed Quick Masks. As here :S3:.

[Ofer Levy]

Yep! Looks good! :w3

[Craig Kerr]

Wonderful action Arthur, love the forward movement of those powerful wings... A truly striking image :S3:

[Stu Bowie]

Artie, the DOF is just fine, and your high ss has captured all round sharpness. Your repost works well after Ofer's suggestion, and overall, very well timed.

[Raymond Lee]

Great capture Artie! Nicely timed! It sure looks much better with the CW rotation as well as chopping off the bottom.