I took this image on New Year Eve driving home from Northern California. It was about 1 PM and the sun was a bit high in the sky, so the light was not ideal. The hawk was perching on a fence post, so this was one of the rare instances where I captured a red tailed hawk at almost eye level. I love the pose, the image is not as sharp as I would have liked had I had more time to aim. I wonder if there is a good way to PP this image to soften the light? Thank you !
1DX
500f4 II + 1.4 X II
1/4000
f8.0
ISO-1600
1/3 EV Evaluative Metering (I reduced exposure during PP by 1/3 EV)
Hi Loi .I don't see the light to be all that harsh,I still see some detail in the shadows . ? so the blacks (to me ) are not blocked and the whites too have detail .even the Bg doesn't seem high in contrast ,and almost to the point of being flat (Light wise ). so I'm going out on the limb here and saying the light is fine .The BackGround is pleasant ,and gives a good amount of information pertaining to the environment ( I like it too ) .I also like the small bush in the lower right . My negatives here would be the size of the subject in the frame and the placement in the center of the frame ,sometimes you just have to use what your given ,but there are more positives than negatives here ,and add the pose of the bird to the plus side !
Hi Clyde, thank you for your comments. I like the pose, and the sharpness although not great, bur useable. But the picture is kind of flat and the bird doesn't pop. I should have used f5.6 to blur the background more, but I was excited to see the bird as we were speeding down the highway and did not check the camera setting - just a rookie mistake that happens to me. A lot. I have tried with various crop, but decided to leave the small bush to the lower right of the frame where the bird perched nearby. That put the bird squarely in the middle of the frame :(. So, may be next time.
Hey Loi, how about a crop from the bottom and right to eliminate the perch the hawk was on? I understand that you wanted to include it, but I think the image could be stronger without it. And in that way the hawk would be flying into the frame, not caught in the middle of it :-).
The lighting seems fine to me. Lucky you for getting good light at this time of day.
Red Tailed Hawk Taking Off
