Eagle Ablutions

OK, I am ready! This is my first post on the regular lists.

I saw this bald eagle bathing in a canal on the eastern shore of Maryland. He was there for over a half hour, dipping his head under the water, letting it wash over his back, then shaking the water off. I didn't know that eagles did that, but a few days later I saw a juvenile bald eagle standing in water in a nearby canal, so I guess they like to play in the water.

Anyway, comments and critiques welcome! I want to learn!

Nikon D300, Shutter 1/1000, f7.1, ISO 500, 600 mm lens with 1.7x teleconverter at 1000 mm

Hi Chris,
I like the flying water droplets and wing/head position. I think this could use a bit of CCW rotation. I'm also seeing a greenish-blue cast to the image. Someone with a calibrated monitor may see something different.
Steve

Love the action - likewise seems to have a greenish cast.

Love the eye contact and the splash color cast is an easy fix with numerous tools available

Welcome Chris! You've got a solid first post here. The water droplets really add to the overall impact of the image. There's a definite color cast to the image that John has done a good job of removing. I'm with Steve about the CCW rotation. Sharpness is good. And it's an interesting behavior that you've captured. All in all, a very nice photo. Congrats and look forward to seeing more of your work!

I will add that there is a significant huge halo, maybe Shadow/highlights? It is very noticeable in the thumbnail because it is very wide.

Big welcome to BPN, and looking forward for more of these interesting Eagle images!!

Welcome, Chris! Very nice first post, I like the action, droplets and low angle. Great suggestions above, I agree with Fabs on what appears to be a S/H halo. You can avoid this if you do curves in your RAW converter instead. Keep them coming!

Thanks, folks! I didn't see the cast at all (until I saw the adjusted image). Fabs, the huge halo is not supposed to be that obvious - I did some vignetting - guess I need to back that off.

Thanks again! This is a phenomenal resource.

Chris

Welcome Chris and great first post. I am anxious to see your future posts as you captured such wonderful action in this one. I agree with all of the above. Thanks for sharing.

Great first post! Nice behavioural image. I have never seen an eagle do that.