Female harrier

[arash_hazeghi]

Northern harrier (female juvenile)

1D4 700mm f/5.6 1/4000sec ISO 800

See HD size here

[Bill Jobes]

That's a beauty of a pose, Arash.

Your PP is outstanding. Love the BG and the fact that the photo looks 'natural,' -- in other words, not overly sharpened.

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Very nice Arash. Very good detail throughout. A couple of questions if you don't mind answering:
* Was this shot as a vertical of horizontal (then cropped)?
* Would you be able to freeze the bird with 1/2000 of a second (and hence been able to use ISO 400)? I don't think it's a big deal for you since you are very good at removing noise, but I'm curious. What would you recommend as a "slowest" shutter speed to freeze the action for raptors and larger birds?

Thanks!

[Alan Murphy]

Just perfect. Love the graduated BG.

[gail bisson]

Just amazing! I feel embarrassed about my shot when I look at yours!
You are not allowed to post right after me from now on! especially if it is the same bird!!
Gail

[Melissa Groo]

Stupendous harrier shot, Arash. Love that wing spread, the fanned tail, the light. I do find myself wondering why such a fast SS speed, like Miguel. I would have thought f/2000 would be fast enough for a harrier, and that stopping down to f8 would have been preferable over a faster SS. Would just like to hear your thinking on this as you are the guru and I am trying to learn. Also, was this before you got your new 600mm or do you still reach for your 500mm from time to time?

[Robert Holguin]

Wonderful shot.
Love the flight pose and the background. Very nice light and excellent comp.
Very well done.

[arash_hazeghi]

Thanks everyone, to answer the questions,

All of my photos are in horizontal orientation since I handhold my rig.

1/2000 sec is often not enough to get a tack sharp RAW file of raptors in flight at 700+mm, having a RAW file that is tack sharp at pixel level is key in obtaining a high quality output that also looks good at larger size. For harriers you can get away with 1/2500sec but I don't like going below 1/3200sec where possible. Fortunately MK4 files don't show visible noise at ISO 800 so there is no need to drop the ISO in terms of IQ.

Melissa, I sold my 500 a while ago, this image is from 2010 :)

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent image of "Miss Harrier".Love it.Learned a lot from your discussion.

Regards,
Satish.

[Arno Ellmer]

Incredible pose ,wing spread and IQ . Superb, Arash ! Would have wished that the different bg colours had not bisected the near wing, but is does not hugely detract from a very strong image.

[Marina Scarr]

Great flight pose, Arash, but I have to agree with Gail: not fair to post so close! It's amazing the difference between the two versions of this image. I love your varied BG.

[arash_hazeghi]

thanks everyone!

[Bill Dix]

Just lovely. I've been longing to get a Harrier like this. Thanks for the useful info.

[Frank Schauf]

Very nice flight pose and colours, Arash.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

The small jpg just does no justice to a magnificent image!

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

awsome. Love the bg and I have learned from too many missed opportunities to go for the speed of the ss as well especially knowing we casn boost the MIV ISO with no problem. I keep reminding myself to leave the ISO up so I get the speed for flight.