Hey, mom brought lunch!

I decided to check out the Osprey nest about 20 minutes from my house and I was lucky that the two fledglings have not started to leave the nest yet. I saw both adults leave just as I arrived so I set up on the tripod and remote release, focused on the nest (which is a long way away due to restrictions by the property owners) and waited. The female came out of nowhere from below the nest and I just had a few seconds to push the remote and caught about 5 shots of her approaching the nest. I did not realize until I opened up the images in LR that she had a fish in her talons!! I liked this one best since the whole fish could be seen.
Canon 7D Mark II, Tamron 150-600mm, 600mm, ISO 800, 1/1600, f/8.0, tripod, FF
LR Contrast +7, Highlights -100, Shadows -16, Whites -80, blacks +8
PS CC Rotated image due to nest tilts at about a 10 degree angle on the post, added canvas on the LHS, removed a stick that was protruding into the tail of the bird and the fin of the fish, one pass with a High Pass Filter, adjusted curves slightly to make the birds stand out, and a bit of NR to the BG. Cropped about 20%
(Thought I'd finally look at what I actually did in processing and report it all!)

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You caught a unique moment here (good for you!) , but it's lost, I think, in the busy dark background. If you could tame that (lighten?etc) I think the action would stand out more

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Originally Posted by Hazel Grant

You caught a unique moment here (good for you!) , but it's lost, I think, in the busy dark background. If you could tame that (lighten?etc) I think the action would stand out more

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Thanks for the feedback Hazel, I'll try a second approach to this image with that in mind.

Warren, very sharp!!! love this image, The background does compete a little bit with the bird, IMO and I would suggest a different approach. You can mask out the bird and then apply field blur on the BG or you could try reducing contrast on the BG in one way or another (I find low opacity healing brush sometime helps).

Super cool action image, Warren! I can hear the fish saying "Oh, sh*t". LOL! Perhaps the yellows/greens in the BG could be tamed a bit. Nest twigs appear to be a bit more on the focal plane than the birds? A sliver off the bottom might benefit, but Your comp is great.

Thanks for all the C&C! Here is a RP, I lowered contrast and added a Lens Blur to the BG, I also lightened it up a bit with curves.

Sandy, it's possible the twigs may have been more in the focal plane but I had zoomed in on the baby when I focused and then turned off AF, hoping that would keep most everything in the focal plane, but it was tough with the nest about 60 yards away. A farmer stopped by to chat with me and told me of another location where I can get closer to a different nest but I would be looking up at it instead of on the same level which is nice about this nest. Ahhhh, if only I could levitate!!! :)

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Warren, what an outstanding image you have caught here. I can appreciate the effort involved. I like your repost very much. My only wish would be for the two birds to be closer together. You have done well shooting at f8 to get both birds in reasonable focus.

How could anyone who owns a camera ever get bored after they retire!

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Originally Posted by Glennie Passier

Warren, what an outstanding image you have caught here. I can appreciate the effort involved. I like your repost very much. My only wish would be for the two birds to be closer together. You have done well shooting at f8 to get both birds in reasonable focus.

How could anyone who owns a camera ever get bored after they retire!

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Thanks Glennie! I had hoped both fledglings would have been showing and really reacting to mom coming home with food, but they seemed to hold back for awhile until she allowed them to come close. I'm sure there are more visits to this nest in my immediate future! My dream is to get both adults, approaching the nest in flight with the fledglings greeting them with their wings spread! I can always dream, right!!??

I agree about your retirement comment, what amazes me is how fast the days fly by!

Great catch -- and a whole fish, too! It's usually the back half of one. Nice nest, too, with enough sticks to mostly cover the platform. And to be able to get close to eye level is wonderful. Being so far away isn't the best, though. Hope you'll check out the other one. The ones I've found, I'm looking up at a steep angle.

Good focusing strategy. I'd try this nest at different times of day to see if you could get the light on the BG to show less detail.

I've been posting some from "my" nest over in Avian, and have a nuthatch to put up too.

Repost is much better. The comments from others are right on--especially the retirement ones :)

Thanks Diane and Hazel! I'll check out your shots Diane.

Oh what fun. Not only a fine photograph, but informed and helpful comments. Your repost obviates the need for this, but what about dropping [er, increasing] green luminance. I've read Diane's warning about much luminance change.

One of the things I most appreciate is a suggestion that you will be visiting this nest again. I've gained a lot seeing what Glennie learns as she progresses with a subject. It's one of the things I appreciate about Diane's series. I'm learning a lot about juvenile behavior and can sense Diane's heightened interest as she approaches the next once again. Congratulations on this shot, Warren. I recently sold a camera to a local fellow who told me of an approachable osprey nest, and I might be putting up some images. Soon I hope.

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Originally Posted by Jim Keener

Oh what fun. Not only a fine photograph, but informed and helpful comments. Your repost obviates the need for this, but what about dropping [er, increasing] green luminance. I've read Diane's warning about much luminance change.

One of the things I most appreciate is a suggestion that you will be visiting this nest again. I've gained a lot seeing what Glennie learns as she progresses with a subject. It's one of the things I appreciate about Diane's series. I'm learning a lot about juvenile behavior and can sense Diane's heightened interest as she approaches the next once again. Congratulations on this shot, Warren. I recently sold a camera to a local fellow who told me of an approachable osprey nest, and I might be putting up some images. Soon I hope.

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Thanks Jim, I hope you get some good time with these birds as well, they are fascinating. I could not agree with you more about learning avian behavior as we strive to get nice shots of them. One of the behaviors I have discovered has to do with Tree Swallows. In my attempts to catch them in flight, I have learned that often the fledglings feed in mid-air with the parents. It is quite an acrobatic show to watch!