Graphic content: Red-tailed Hawk

[Karl Egressy]

We were watching and photographing this exceptionally tolerant bird for a while. Photogs came and gone, we stayed.
The last action was the most unique. It is not very nice but it is an important part of their life; catching prey and feed on.
(Natural hunting, no baiting.)
I apologize if anyone find it too graphic.
It was shot in the late evening hours in golden light.

Canon 1D MIV
Canon 500 f4.0 L IS
Manual Setting
F 5.0 (few shots later I switched to f 7.1 and then f 8.0)
1/800 s
ISO 800
Flash did not fire

[Jon Rista]

Beautiful shot. Love the lighting. I think its feeding perch is superb. While it may be a little graphic, it is also just life. Rodent's gotta run, hawks gotta eat...

Only thing I might correct is a little artifact to the center left of the bird. Looks like a cloning seam or something.

[Marina Scarr]

Your patience obviously paid off here, Karl. Super capture, great light and no need to apologize for what we photographers all understand is nature. The colors of the perch are awesome and the catch is a huge plus. Good call on changing your F-stop b/c while the head is very sharp here, I would personally prefer a little more DOF. I also like seeing the effects of the wind on the plumage. Looking forward to more!!!

[Grace Scalzo]

Well done, Karl. It doesn't come across to me as too graphic. Beautiful bird, great perch, nice light. I do see some smudges on top of the perch, just to the left of the hawk which look like processing remnants.

[Karl Egressy]

Beautiful shot. Love the lighting. I think its feeding perch is superb. While it may be a little graphic, it is also just life. Rodent's gotta run, hawks gotta eat...

Only thing I might correct is a little artifact to the center left of the bird. Looks like a cloning seam or something.

Thanks, Jon. I removed the artifact I found. there might be more. I removed a few OOF brabches originaly with. That's what you sa on the canvas.

[Raymond Lee]

Great capture Karl! Not too graphic to me 'cuz it's nature after all! The raptor is nicely position in the frame. Beautiful warm lighting on the bird and nice sharp details! I think there are some more artifacts behind the bird (right side around the tail area) or could be just the compression from the resizing. If they are artifacts and there are still a lot more and hard to correct, may be run some Gaussian blur on the background?

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Karl, golden light and warm colours takes this up a notch, and I like your overall comp. I too dont find this graphic, and its good to see a good view of the prey.

Your patience paid off.

[John Cooper]

A great story-telling image Karl of this raptor feeding. Beautiful warm lighting, great perch and BG. Well done.

[Satish Ranadive]

Karl:
Excellent moment captured.Love beautiful golden lights,colors,perch and composition.
Looking forward to see more action from the series !!!

Regards,
Satish.

[PhilCook]

Love the natural behavior, stunning capture....and must say I'm impressed the bird has a little plate made of leaves hehehehe...how very civilized lol lol

[Karl Egressy]

Great capture Karl! Not too graphic to me 'cuz it's nature after all! The raptor is nicely position in the frame. Beautiful warm lighting on the bird and nice sharp details! I think there are some more artifacts behind the bird (right side around the tail area) or could be just the compression from the resizing. If they are artifacts and there are still a lot more and hard to correct, may be run some Gaussian blur on the background?

Thanks Raymond and thank you all. I gave it an other try to clean up the artifact. I know what causes it; getting rid off the magenta colour repeatedly. I should find some better way to control it.
Now I used surface blur on the background at 4-8.

[gail bisson]

Once you fix the issues with the BG posterization you have yourself a 10 out of 10 image Karl!'The light, perch, action depicted are amazing.
Well done,
Gail

[Frank Schauf]

Excellent light, details and bg.

[Ivan Ellison]

A great natural history shot, this is what nature photogarphy is about. Love the perch and the light on the bird. Next shot as it lifts its head to eat the mouse piece will be nice to see- hope you have it!!