King of Hokkaido? [Archive] - BirdPhotographers.net

Arthur Morris

03-02-2012, 06:24 AM

This Steller's Sea Eagle was photographed from the tourist boat at Rausu, Hokkaido, Japan. The sea eagles and hundreds of gulls are all baited to the boats.

Canon 300mm f/2.8L IS II lens with the 1.4X III TC and the EOS-1D Mark IV. ISO 400. Evaluative metering +1/ 3 stop as framed: 1/3200 sec. at f/4. Hand held. Full frame side to side.

Our trip has been killer so far. We are done with the Snow Monkeys, the sea eagles--two species, and have a morning left with the Whooper Swans. Then we are all off to the Red-Crowned Cranes.

Don't be shy; all honest comments welcome.

ps: for lots more Japan images and today's blog post on being more aggressive with flight and action photography click here (http://www.birdsasart-blog.com/) and then scroll down.

gail bisson

03-02-2012, 06:35 AM

I love the light and the pose and the composition. The ice is the perfect reflector to get that under-wing detail. I like the exposure you chose and the detail in the ice perch.
My only minor nit is I wish there wasn't that "halo" of ice around his head. Could you have gotten lower? I would also clone out the bit of brown in LUC.
All in all a great shot,
Gail

Randy Stout

03-02-2012, 06:55 AM

Artie:

Sounds like some serious fun is going on!

This pose really shows how massive this fellow is, with heavy wings and thick torso, sharp, nice fill off snow,great display of talons, well exposed.

The halo doesn't bug me because of where he is (ice) but I do agree about the brown area LUC. That color seems out of place in the sea of whites and grays.

Cheers

Randy

Ofer Levy

03-02-2012, 07:32 AM

Stunning image! Excellent exposure control and what a pose!!! The ice behind the head doesn't bother me. I see the brown area on the top left and it looks like there are some cloning marks. Nothing major though.

Grace Scalzo

03-02-2012, 08:01 AM

THe pose is wonderful, shows off his (or her?) power. I like it as is.

Marina Scarr

03-02-2012, 08:08 AM

Love that pose and colors and exp look spot on. My favorite part here is that it looks as though this raptor has snow on his wings and it works so well against that setting. I find the brown strip Detracts from an otherwise super capture.

Clemens Vanderwerf

03-02-2012, 08:48 AM

Gorgeous pose and light. Super HA and great display of claws on the ice. White behind the head provides nice contrast with the bkgd. I don't mind the brown patch in the ULC as it is part of the habitat and soft enough not to be distracting. Ideally would like a bit more space around, but obviously this was the most appropriate crop.

Karl Egressy

03-02-2012, 09:46 AM

Great details in both dark and white. Great pose and the ice perch and background are excellent. All in all the bird really pops.

arash_hazeghi

03-02-2012, 10:18 AM

awesome Artie, love the light excellent details and a great perch!

Melissa Groo

03-02-2012, 10:25 AM

Sensational pose and excellent head angle! No improvements needed to my eye, this is a real winner.

Stu Bowie

03-02-2012, 11:25 AM

Hi Artie, great pose with the outspread wings, and you have exposed this so well. The overall detail shows up nicely, sharp, and gotta love that ice perch. Cool BG too. ( no pun intended :w3 )

Marina Scarr

03-02-2012, 11:50 AM

Now that I have actually seen this on the big screen rather than my iPhone, I have to say the ULC doesn't distract that way it did on the smaller version. Wouldn't mind just a tad more space though. Just love that perch and the visible talons.

Jim Crosswell

03-02-2012, 12:08 PM

Great image Arthur! I like the pose, perch, IQ and setting.

Troy Lim

03-02-2012, 01:15 PM

Glad that the trip has been a good one.
I like the composition.

Robert Holguin

03-02-2012, 02:19 PM

Superb image!!!! Love the pose, exposed very well, excellent comp, and great detail.
Well done.

Kaustubh Deshpande

03-02-2012, 03:23 PM

quite the stunner, Artie. Incredible image. the pose, the details, the environment.....one of your best from this trip, I think.

Ron Sprunger

03-02-2012, 05:49 PM

It's a stunning, powerful image. That fellow really does look the king.

Arthur Morris

03-02-2012, 10:56 PM

Thanks all for their kind words and especially Ofer for pointing out the mark in the ULC. The original is posted here. Not sure where the huge specular highlight came from... As you can see, it is full frame from side to side with a crop from the bottom. I actually like the greyish brown area upper right as it balances nicely with the bird's left wing which is more fully spread and shows browner tones than the right wing (if you know what I mean). I love that there are so many sets of killer sharp eyes here.

On a related note we are absolutely killing in Japan. We finished up with a second spectacular morning in Kussharo with the Whooper Swans and are headed out in 35 minutes for our first of 11 (I think) sessions with Japanese Red-crowned Crane....

Arthur Morris

03-02-2012, 10:57 PM

ps; I was concerned about the white halo but decided to leave it :). I will repost a version with the ULC repaired asap.

Arthur Morris

03-03-2012, 05:46 AM

Final version with the clone stamp (???) mark repaired.

Frank Schauf

03-03-2012, 07:52 AM

Nice composition and excellent expsoure control and sharpness.

Jonathan Ashton

03-04-2012, 08:49 AM

Absolute gem Artie, a perfect pic for leap day.

Vivaldo Damilano

03-05-2012, 11:49 AM

Missed this one and have to say that it is the best Sea Eagle I have seen WOW, Superb Artie.