Northern Harrier

I photographed this Northern Harrier female in light snow in February. I think this image has a lot going for it with the exception of eye contact. I'm interested in feedback about how much the lack of eye contact hurts this image. The bird is hunting, and you can see the eye, but it's obviously not ideal. Thanks for the input.

http://birdwhisperer.smugmug.com/pho...5_sqjki-X2.jpg

Canon 1D Mark III, 700mm, f/8, 1/1250, ISO 1250, manual exposure, no flash, hand held

I don't have the experience of some regulars one in this forum, but here are my two cents: you should sent the image to the trash bin... right after you send me the raw files :)

I realize how important is the eye contact, but the wing display is priceless.

Hi Doug. This is a very nice image in all respects. IMHO, the lack of eye contact does not hurt this image at all. Maybe it's the biologist in me, but I like images that show that birds have other things going on in their lives besides looking at cameras. :) Eye contact is nice, but it's not the only thing.

Hi Doug,
This was a tough one because wing spread and pose is awesome.....I do see the eye...but maybe what is missing for me is that we don't see ground to see where he is looking. Don't know if that makes sense but i'll check back and see what others chime in.

While in Bosque I spent hours trying to photograph this beautiful bird . Personally I think this is outstanding. Love the flight pose and being that he is hunting you could not have acheived better eye contact than this. The BG is a killer and the colors contrast beautifully with the Harrier. I love it as posted and wish it were MINE !

Hi Doug,
I agree with Steve M on this one. Eye contact is great but I too like to see them looking at something else. I Like Roman's point as well about seeing what he's looking at. Maybe you clone a mouse into the photo inplace of your sig:) Nice soft light and good details by the way.
Steve

Doug, this is a very good image, the eye contact is fine to me. He is more interested in what he is doing. If I where you, I would increse the saturation on the BG a bit more, the details are great. jc

Doug, the bird was not hunting your camera, it is looking for food! I am sure it has eye contact with its prey. Good shot.

With apologies to the OK with the bird looking away group, the image is spectacular but is weakened by the head position. Yes, it was hunting something to its right; in an ideal world it would have been hunting something to its left, or you would have been positioned a bit more to the right and in front of the bird. That said, perhaps brightening the face a bit would help.

I supose we're all looking for what makes the most powerful images. The "what if's" and "If only's" drive me crazy here sometimes. I guess that's what make THE most powerful images THE most powerful images. EVERYTHING the way we'd want it.

I would love to capture an image like this... I'd love to have the eye contact needed to push it absolutely over the top too.

Steve

Very nice Image!! The head position doesn't bother me at all!!!!! But the image appears to be a little low in contrast, partcularly the head and eye. That is the only criticsm I have with this image!!

Doug overall I like this one even without the head turn. For people like me who have only be photographing birds a few years I still try and add to my collection of species as well as trying to improve my images overall. I wish that I had something this good on this species.