Osprey hunting

[Bob Serling]

I was sitting on a bank of the San Elijo lagoon in north county San Diego waiting for a small group of blue winged teals to take flight. Jumping mullets drew in an Osprey for a closer look and I was able to get some decent shots, but didn't have time to adjust the exposure so a bit of the white on its head was overexposed. But I like the bird's attitude and catching it as it began to bank.

This is my first post and I credit whatever skills I have at capturing birds in flight to the generous amounts of time Doug Brown and Jim Neiger spent with me during their west coast flight school.

I've just purchased Lightroom and will be installing it soon. I'd appreciate any comments/critiques and any pointers on improving feather detail once I have Lightroom up and running.

Canon EOS 7D
Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 - no IS
1/1600
f/5.6
Manual mode
ISO 400110953

[Ron Sprunger]

That's a mighty nice first post, Bob.I love the posture, and the eye focused on prey.

What ISO were you using? I'm seeing quite a bit of noise in the sky, and the bird's head looks a little soft. I imagine the Lightroom guys can give you some good tips. Hope to see more images soon.

[Bob Serling]

Thanks, Ron - I appreciate it. I shot it at 400 ISO. But as I mentioned in my post, I was sitting waiting for some blue wing teals to take flight and when the Osprey appeared, I didn't have time to dial down the amount of light as I would have liked to. So it resulted in burning the whites some, especially in the head.