Bald Eagle

[gail bisson]

Canon 1D MK IV
F 4.0 500mm
ISO 800
SS 1/1600
f 6.3
Manual
Full vertical crop from horizontal
Cloudy skies in the west but clear to the north
I think this is a really cool pose!
PP in LR3 and in CS5 did S & H. NR, and +3 to blues in color balance.I tried to bring up the shadows more on the bird's right leg but noise became objectionable. Any suggestions?
What do you think of this pose?
Comments and critiques always learned from and appreciated with thanks,
Gail

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Gail,
I'm known for tight crops:bg3:.....but I would probably go with more in front and less in back especially since you have the horizontal room. Easy fix to a great pose and excellent exposure!

[Jeroen Stel]

Hi Gail,

What a wonderful pose and creative composition! Perhaps a tad more room in front of the bird but i like this a lot.
Wish we had these stunning birds down here..:2eyes2:

As for the question about lighting up the darker leg feathers you could try masking them in PS and then using the "screen"-blend mode on a seperate layer and reduce the opacity of the layer. Usually this works better then Shadow- Highlight adjustments.
If some noise occurs you could try to remove only the color noise as this will not affect detail too much.

Greetings,

Jeroen Stel

[dankearl]

I also would change the crop as Roman mentioned.
The pose is awesome.

[gail bisson]

Here is the new crop as requested! I like it a lot more. Thanks Roman and Dan. I love having extra sets of eyes:S3:
Gail

[Karl Egressy]

Cool taking off pose. I wasn't sure about the crop. Then I scrolled down and saw the re-post. Looks great, Gail.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

I do like the new post and I don't think you'll get much beter on the legs without noise.I think they look good however i would like to see the bg maybe a liitle less bright to separate the whites from it .

[Maya Raut]

Wow this is wonderful flight capture of this magnificent bird...Looking at OP I too felt this should have some more space in the direction of flight...re post has it and looks excellent to me.

[Dave Leroy]

An excellent pose with some intense eye contact. I also would like the sky a bit darker. Repost looks much better.

[Arthur Morris]

Love the pose and the sharpness. I like both compositions; each has a lot going for it. The image needed more pop and lighter legs; I ran NIK Color Efex Pro 4 Detail Extractor at 60% on the top of the head and the legs (via a Hide-All Mas) and ran Tonal Contrast at 100% (on the bird only). Color Efex Pro has changed my workflow and the look of my images drastically; to learn a bit more and save a few bucks click here (http://www.birdsasart-blog.com/2012/01/26/home-from-the-southern-oceans-trip/) and be sure to check out the animated GIF. See you soon :S3:.

[gail bisson]

Hi Artie,
Thanks for your work. I haven't tried the NIK program but will download the 2 week trial and you can personally show me how to use it next week!! I like what the detail extractor has done for the head,
Gail

[Arthur Morris]

YAW :). CE had changed my approach to digital image optimization drastically.... And I am loving it.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Gail, very well timed to get the head turn and eye contact. Good flying posure with the raised wings, sharp, and your repost works better ( except, I would have left a little more room behind :w3 ) Artie's the master at showing us what else can be done.

[arash_hazeghi]

very nice Gail

[Jim Crosswell]

Excellent image Gail! I like the composition on your repost. Arthurs version brings out the full potential.

[Craig Kerr]

Great image Gail.... It's all been said -:)