Crested Caracara

I shot this in early June of this year

EOS 1DMKIV manual
800mm f5.6L IS resting on the window

ISO 400
1/800s @f8.0

Attachment 81257

Lovely photo of a really nice raptor...Colors, sharpness detail and background very nice...If you have room, I'd add a bit on the right and crop a little off the top but just my opinion...TFS

Thanks Paul,

I have room to the right. I'll give that a try and repost

Nice shot. Love caracaras. Horizontal crop would have been better in my opinion. Too much room on top. ;) TFS.

Like this?

Attachment 81270

This bird is a beauty, the repost is much better.

Yes. Repost is much better :)

The repost is really good, but I'd love a little more room below too. Not asking for much aye? ;) Overall a pleasing image with nice comp and subject pose. :)

Thanks everyone. Unless I "add canvas" there really isn't anymore room below. There is... but it's got barbed wire and all kinds of "uglies" in it...

I was going to suggest that pointing your lens lower would have been better, but seems like there were many "uglies" down there! The repost is much better balanced though. I still wish there was a bit more of the perch showing though.

Daniel- now you know why there was so much headroom :) Just below the top of the post there was some shiny new barbed wire and high grass. I composed in camera to get rid of it. Tough compromise but for some reason, people around here shoot these birds and they don't often let me get this close.

The only explanation that I've ever heard for shooting them is that they allegedly carry off calves :2eyes2: Someone actually told me that. I replied- really? you really think that, or any bird for that matter, can carry off 100's of pounds of calf? I've heard the same thing said of owls...

Beautiful bird. Colors, sharpness, pose and background are all great. Perhaps the yellow in the right foot is a bit blown. Eye is killer. Congrats. JR

Nice sharp image with smooth BG! I like the repost better.