Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk take off.

[Karl Egressy]

I can also call it drive by shooting as I took this image from my car while driving to a location.
The top of the wing was clipped and I used a subsequent frame to rebuild it.
Thanks for looking.

Canon 1D MIV
Canon 500 f4.0 L IS + 1.4TC
Manual Exposure
ISO 400
f 6.3
1/3200 s
Hand Held

[Jonathan Ashton]

We are getting thoroughly spoilt with all these high class flight images, an excellent shot, the focus is optimal the eye tends to go from bill to talons - both pin sharp, I look at the wings perfectly exposed and a super position. I have not looked for a repair on the wing and I would not have thought there was one until you mentioned it. It is a beautiful clear and colourful image - congratulations.

[Michael Eckstein]

Stunning image! Great job of repairing missing elements.

[Marina Scarr]

You did a good job getting light and details under the bird. I am guessing you had some snow which helped. Only wish he were facing a little more your way.

[Richard Pittam]

Hi Karl,
What was the distance to the subject and crop ratio.
Great image.

[Mike Milicia]

Cool pose and excellent exposure and detail!
Agree with marina regarding flight angle.

[Karl Egressy]

Hi Karl,
What was the distance to the subject and crop ratio.
Great image.

Thanks Richard. I was on one side of a narrow country road, and the bird was on the opposite side, sitting on a utility post. I would guess the distance was about six or seven meters.
This is about 75 percent of the original frame.
May I know why you were asking?

[Richard Pittam]

I thought it must have been reasonably close, as the quality was exceptional.

[Mike Landwehr]

A beautiful image, Karl. The beautifully profiled head, with the sharp yellow eye, and the prominent highlight, really jump out at me. The clean whites, browns and yellow against the clear blue background are gorgeous. You had a nearly perfect sun angle, and did a wonderful job hand-holding that big lens!

[Randy Stout]

Karl:

Well exposed, nice wing reconstruction.

To my eye the rump is sharper than the head/eye area.

Cheers


Randy

[Arthur Morris]

A fat, speeding bullet. I agree with eagle-eyed Randy--the flank/tail is sharper than the face.... A bit of a contrast mask would help the face. Good job on the wing repair but you missed a bit of white in the sky top center where you added canvas.

[Robert Holguin]

Wonderful shot.
Excellent pose, whites handled very well, excellent techs, and great comp.
Well done.

[arash_hazeghi]

nice pose but this one looks a bit soft to me, the sky saturation is a bit distracting.

i like the dangling talons!

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent flight pose.Very nice colors and details.Nice composition too.
Love the frame.

Regards,
Satish.

[David Salem]

This is the only drive by shooting you want to be involved in. I too have done this many times. Not that easy. I think its a great shot. Exposure and details look good to me. Like the hanging feet too. Great job on the rebuild.

[Karl Egressy]

nice pose but this one looks a bit soft to me, the sky saturation is a bit distracting.

i like the dangling talons!

Thanks, Arash.

Here is one with more sharpening on the bird and turned the saturation of the blue very much down. I turned it down on the original but probably not enough.
If the sky is blue around here winter time it is very blue. Most of the time it is gray though.