The Encounter

[David Salem]

Had a pretty awesome encounter happened to me a few months ago. A friend and I were at my local wildlife refuge shooting on a Sunday morning.
It was foggy and didn't look very promising for a decent shoot.
Just when we decided to call it quits, I saw a Peregrine falcon sitting on the ground eating a coot. I slowly moved the car closer and closer until we were in great position with the hazzy sun behind us and the falcon feeding.
Mysteriously the fog lifted. We couldn't believe our great fortune.
Things couldn't have been going any better when suddenly the falcon looked up and to my disbelief this female juvenile bald Eagle came in right in front of us and challenged the falcon for the coot.
It was awesome to see her full frame landing in front of us. I know many of you get lots of opportunities to photograph bald eagles but out here in the California desert it's a once-in-a-lifetime deal.
She landed right in front of us, but didn't take the coot. Needless to say, we got some great shots of her standing tall and of the female Peregrine stooping the Eagle too. We were both elated afterwards and couldn't stop talking about it for days.
I was fortunate to get the Eagle coming in full frame with most of the shots having no clipped wings. This one is pretty much full frame but I clipped the top of the wings a little so I cropped it a little tighter for impact. Hope you like it.

1DMKIV---700mm---f5.6---ss13200---ISO640---HH from the car window@ 8:45am---10% crop

Thanks as always for looking and for your input. Appreciated.

David

[Diane Miller]

Wonderful sharpness and dynamic pose, and what a determined expression! And a very pleasing color palette. Good reactions to get the shot! Would love to see more of the encounter.

[christopher galeski]

nice image,sharp,like the BG,good flight pose.

[gail bisson]

This is really dramatic David. I don't usually like clipped wings but this works.
Very intense, "in your face" action.
Tack sharp with superb details.
Well done,
Gail

[Girish Prahalad]

superb view of the talons! very sharp details with great BG. love the intense concentration in it's eyes.

[Daniel Cadieux]

The look of concentration, outstretched open talons, and killer layered BG all make for an amzing image. The cut wings work well because they are cut and not clipped. I'd remove the small white piece of debris at left edge near the tail.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi David, this is stunning. The detail on the eagle is superb, tack sharp, and love how the talons pop out from the BG.

Nothing wrong with the comp as is, but I can see a version of a vertical with more space below.

[David Salem]

Thanks everyone for the comments. Appreciated.
Stuart, I have a version as a vertical also. I will try to post it later today. Thanks.

[vishaljadhav]

I love the image for the sheer power it brings about.
great details and i would like to see the full vertical version ,

[Shawn Zierman]

That's flippin awesome. Razor details on the head and talons. You've got some wicked good bif skills sir. Congrats on the unusual opportunity too.

[Satish Ranadive]

David,this is absolutely superb image with wonderful details and beautiful colors. I like the composition.
Love the tack sharp bird and outstretched talons and intense stare.

Regards,
Satish.

[Randy Stout]

David:

Great action and techs, glad you stuck it out!

I think the white spot off the tail is a bit of a feather, and it adds to the story a bit for me, so I would leave it.

Certainly looking forward to more of this encounter.

Randy

[Robert Kimbrell]

Wow, a very powerful shot. I like the comp as is, but am also glad you captured some with the full wing, hope to see it soon

[David Salem]

Thank everyone for the comments. Appreciated.
Randy, you are right, the spot is feather falling off as she came in. I thought even though it was small that it added some sense of speed to the shot.

[mohammad reza shahab]

Wonderful sharpness and dynamic pose,I like the composition.