Assateague Eagle

[Allen Sklar]

I had finished surf fishing for the day, and as usual dumped my remaining bait fish for the gulls to enjoy. As quickly as they descended they departed which meant there was an Eagle around. Grabbing my ever ready d300 with my antique 80-200 push pull, I glanced around and saw the bird come in low over the Atlantic. The distance between myself and the bait is probably 20 feet. The light reflecting off the sand lit the belly nicely giving detail that is often hard to capture. The closeness also gave me a nice creamy background blur. Of all the thousands of Eagle shots I have collected, this is my personal favorite. Hope you enjoy it too. And thanks to Jim Fenton if he should see this, his images inspired me years ago to try my hand at BIF shooting.

http://www.smugmug.com/photos/i-GBjmNW4/0/XL/i-GBjmNW4-XL.jpg

My galleries are at allensklar.smugmug.com

[Randy Stout]

Allen:

A big welcome to BPN, and a great way to start out! I like the story and applaud your preparedness.

It is a different eagle picture, and the strong sense of environment makes it for me. Agree about the fill lighting off the sand. I love winter photography because of the similar effect off the snow.
NIce angle in frame, prey item, full up pose.

I might consider moving him a bit left in the frame, esp. if you have some more canvas to work with.

I would also remove the white post behind his wing.

Again, congrats on a fine image, welcome to BPN, and look for more.

I suspect this was your best "catch of the day"

Cheers

Randy

[stefano sitzia]

for me is an awesome shot! like the bokeh, the moment catched and the white gesture.
also details are good.

[Erich Stevens]

Allen, congrats on a spectacular shot! Goes to show with some quick reflexes and a bit of luck you don't need $15,000 in gear to capture a truly memorable image.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Randy has covered my thoughts pretty much to a "T", but I would add that I would also remove the longer object at right edge of the frame (if you do not object to that type of image editting). Excellent image with a super nice bech feel to it...you did well to take advantage of the opportunity!

[Andre van As]

Hi Allen
The bird's posture is riveting and dramatic. Under the conditions you describe getting this kind of feather detail is exceptional

Andre

[christopher galeski]

its all been said,a very nice image.well done.

[Allen Sklar]

Thank you all for the warm welcome and comments! If I might ask a question......I tried to remove the white post when I originally edited the shot in Capture NX using the eraser tool, however results were not satisfactory, perhaps because of the softness of the object. Any other suggestions on how to accomplish this would be appreciated, my other editing program is PS Elements # 9. Generally speaking I don't do much of this type of "removal" editing but here I agree it is a small distraction. Thanks again! allen