Golden eagle in a golden morning

I spent the weekend photographing raptors with my friend Dave Salem, we came across a rare scene of a golden eagle sitting on a kill, a coot. We used Dave's truck as a blind to get close to the eagle which was was surrounded by crows trying to take a bite off the coot. The eagle finally gave up after having consumed most of the coot and slowly disappeared in the horizon, we were still far from him but managed a few frames.

Attachment 157350

1D-X 600II + 1.4X III. ISO 1250. f/5.6 at 1/2500sec. hand held from truck. processed with DPP 4.3. Hope you like it

Hi Arash

Congrats on this special capture!

Please forgive me for taking liberties with your image- when I studied it, I felt it could do with some MT contrast and selective sharpening.
Did masked USM for local area enhancement and selective Sharpening for Web....
WDYT?

Thanks Andre for taking the time but I prefer the original. The report is over sharpened a bit and shows halo artifacts, the contrast is a bit too much making the features appear a touch too dark for a golden eagle. I do use smart sharpen on the subject after I re-size the photo and here I attempted to make it as close as possible to what I saw in the field.

Best

These are one of the hardest species of raptors to get close to in my are. What a great surprise when we came across this scene. The look back pose is the frame I liked best and I really like the complementary colors and tones. I too prefer the OP as it looks more as seen. What a great couple days we had! Keep them coming.

This must have been an amazing experience!!!! I personally prefer the OP. Lovely light, pose and moment captured.

Awesome shot and a great experience I am sure. I had a similar situation a couple of years ago and can attest to what a great thrill it was for me. I like the OP also.

Arash:

The colors, look back pose, framing and shooting angle all come together here. Remarkable opportunity, well captured.

Cheers

Randy

Fantastic image of majestic raptor (my most favourite).
Just love the frame.

Regards,
Satish.

Great pose a beautiful golden colour all over!

Very nicely done and looking forward to more of last weekends shots!

Great light and scene. A hard to photograph subject. Great luck and good at getting a nice capture of this rare moment.