I don't get the opportunity to use small apertures for birds very often.
I liked the effect I got from using it here.
This eagle was on his perch above a nest I am monitoring.
No photos of chicks yet
nice pose of the eagle a few points you might want to consider
the shooting angle is steep, when possible you want to be level with the bird.
the dark areas are blocked and have no detail, overall the image is too contrasty.
the image also looks over-sharpened and shows halo artifacts.
overall you have included too much empty space around the bird, when the BG is plain sky and not something interesting like the habitat, you want to minimize its impact by cropping tight to concentrate on the bird.
Hope this is helpful, keep up the good job :)
05-14-2011, 02:37 PM
Doug Brown
Sharpness is good, but perhaps a little overly aggressive. I like the concept of the bird placed in the center of the image, with the gnarled branches surrounding it. However I don't care for the OOF branches in the RLC. More eye contact would have been nice. And I'd try to open up the blacks in post (reducing contrast will help). Good points by Arash above.
05-14-2011, 03:54 PM
Daniel Cadieux
The first thought that popped into my mind was that the image is oversharpened - especially the branches. Arash has offered foof for thought, and I agree with his input.
Nice sighting though...these guys tend not to stick around up here - they flee from 500 yards away!!
05-14-2011, 10:11 PM
dankearl
Thanks for the comments.
A lot of time I just try too hard.
Here is basically the original with sharpness out of camera, contrast toned down but cropped a bit more.
It does look better, thanks for the C & C.