Red-tailed Hawk Portrait.

[Karl Egressy]

For the first two shots I did not correct the setting being used for flight shots earlier.
Later I discovered that I liked this underexposed image as it brought out the nice rich colors of the bird.
The two highlights in the eye occurred naturally, no flash was used.
Thanks for looking.

Canon 1D MIV
Canon 500 f4.0
ISO 800
f6.3
1/3200 s

[dankearl]

Beautiful light, Karl and the head is very sharp .
At first glance the feathers on the shoulder look soft and the are a bit, but I like it.
They sort of go with the soft low light.
I like it a lot.

[arash_hazeghi]

nice pose and look back, head is sharp but too much NR on the back feathers have made them look soft

[Karl Egressy]

nice pose and look back, head is sharp but too much NR on the back feathers have made them look soft

Thanks, Arash.
I did a quick rework from scratch and did not use any noise reduction this time but did not worry about small details either therefore it might look worse.
However, no noise reduction this time.

[arash_hazeghi]

repost has better details in the back feathers but it got too noisy, you need to balance your NR workflow

[Karl Egressy]

repost has better details in the back feathers but it got too noisy, you need to balance your NR workflow

Thanks Arash. I do my best and appreciate your advices. However, my eyes no longer see little details.

[Holger Leyrer]

Nice image. Like the repost. A little noise reduction in BG and then it fits.
I don't know all shortcuts. What means: NR workflow ?

[Karl Egressy]

Nice image. Like the repost. A little noise reduction in BG and then it fits.
I don't know all shortcuts. What means: NR workflow ?

Thanks, Holger. NR workflow means Noise Reduction workflow.

[adrian dancy]

I like the lighting on the bird and the Rembrandt background.

[gail bisson]

Adrian took the words right out of my mouth-the colors remind me of Rembrandt paintings.
I think that if you could find a balance between the OP and the repost you would have a nice image,
Gail

[christopher galeski]

nice one Karl,very nice light and look back pose,agree with comments on noise work flow.TFS.

[Holger Leyrer]

NR workflow means Noise Reduction workflow.

Oh yeah!! Noise Reduction.
I sit her on my chair and think NR? What is NR ????

[Shawn Zierman]

Lovely light quality Karl. I also enjoy the bloody beak of this hunter. I dig the slightly more spacious composition of the repost....just consider selective NR on the background and crop off that sliver of a white line that appeared at the bottom of the frame.

[Bill Dix]

Lovely, Karl. I'm late to the party, but Rembrandt was the first thing I thought of when I saw the image. Lovely light, detail on the head, and remains of his lunch quite evident. Maybe somewhere in between the OP and the RP? Some softness in the back may help focus us on the face, but the OP seems too soft, and the RP too noisy.

[Enrique Patino]

Yes Karl. Separate the bg on its own layer and do NR on it more aggressively. I like the mood of this image and I am sure you can get some details out of the shaded areas...