Cooper's Hawk

[Carolyn Arnesen]

This is my first post. I appreciate the opportunity to learn. This image was shot a.m. HH from the car. The bird perched for several minutes surveying everything around it before taking off fast and low over the marsh. Always a pleasure to see these graceful, agile, birds. Image is cropped with minor levels adjustment and sharpened. Can't decide if the green branches add to or detract from the image.

EOS 7D 420.0mm (EF300mm F/4L + EF 1.4X III) 1/800 f/7.1 ISO 320 Evaluative metering

C & C welcome.

Thanks,
Carolyn

[David Kenny]

Nice first post. Very sharp and good eye contact. I like the branches because they show some environment in this photo. How much did you crop off of this one? For me I find myself looking for more at the bottom of the frame (where his feet would have been). If it was possible I would of moved over a bit and placed the subject in between the two branches sticking up to expose more of the bird.

-Dave

[Carolyn Arnesen]

Thanks, Dave. This is cropped ~20-25% mainly from the RHS with some off the top. I see your point about looking for the rest of the bird. Moving over wasn't an option at the time though - I would have had to get out of the car and that would have scared off the bird. From where I was, the lower part of the bird wasn't visible through the branches so I focused on what I could see. However, it may have been a better comp if I'd included more of the lower branches as a border.

[Sandy Witvoet]

Whoo Hoo! I LOVE this, Carolyn! I'm totally ok with the comp..... since it has lots environment.... If there was a "piece of leg" visible, I'd be looking for the feet. This is an image you have to move back from your puter and take in the whole picture. Great focus on head and eye, great posture...... we seldom see (what I assume is a Cooper's?) perched in beautiful Cedar trees (usually they have a tangle of branches around them or they are having "lunch" under your birdfeeder! Eek!) You have just enough branches without overwhelming the subject. Colors of bird AND branches are spot on. Superb first post!

[Diane Miller]

Welcome to posting!! What a great image to start with -- the focus is right on the head /eye.

A little more on the bottom would have been good, something to think about next time. I try to do several different compositions in camera, including verticals.

Look forward to seeing more of your work!

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Great to see you posting Carolyn. Love the surveying head angle, sharpness of the head and eye. Nice environment too. I would also like to see more of the branch below. IMO it would give the bird a bit more room. Might be a good as a vertical, but I like it as is.


Geoffrey

[Carolyn Arnesen]

Thanks Sandy and Diane. Your C & C is much appreciated.

[Carolyn Arnesen]

Thanks, Geoffrey. This was a good reminder to experiment more with composition in camera.

[Randall Farhy]

Carolyn, welcome to BPN- I absolutely love this capture- the technicals look extremely solid here. With experimentation in mind, how do you feel about a square? To my eyes, the elements make it seem like a vertical even though it's not-it trims a little of the vegetation but I feel it makes the bird a little more prominant, taking attention away from the missing feet. If you prefer the traditional, I'd take a little more off the bottom, making the bird stronger. It translates as intentional that way, telling the viewer the lower area doesn't matter so to speak.

[Diane Miller]

Depending on the use of the image, people will sometimes add canvas and fill it in (Content-Aware Fill is often the best choice) to improve the composition. I pulled your image to try, just for fun, but the first thing I noticed when I opened it in PS is that is doesn't have an embedded profile. (Nor does Randall's repost.) Check out the Sticky at the top of the forum on "Seeing Images Properly..." It does appear that you converted to sRGB, which is important, but the profile should be embedded when you save the JPEG to ensure that more people will see it correctly.

Anyhow, here's a quick and dirty expansion of the canvas followed by Content-Aware Fill and some fun with the cloning brush (set to one of the irregular shapes -- "Spatter". Just for fun, took about 2 minutes.

And this one is properly tagged as sRGB -- if the colors look different to anyone, the fault is with your browser. Check the above Sticky.

[Iain Barker]

Great post and welcome to the forum.
I like the idea of Diane's post and with a bit more time spent on the fill would work well. Looking at the image the focus seems to be on the breast of the bird making its head slightly soft. As the eye is the main focal point it is important to try and have that as sharp as possible.

Iain

[Carolyn Arnesen]

Thanks All, for your comments, suggestions and kind welcome.
-Randall - I like your crop and the way it makes the bird stand out.
-Diane - The additional space below does enhance the image. (Thanks for the heads up about the embedded profile. Will do that from now on.)
-Iain - The focus point is on the eye and the area just beneath it in this image. I see it as fairly sharp, but it could be sharper still. I shoot mainly HH and sharpness is a continuing challenge.
Carolyn

[Iain Barker]

Hi Carolyn the eye does look quite sharp but to me the breast directly below the beak looks even sharper.

[Carolyn Arnesen]

I noticed that too, Iain. Perhaps stopping down would have put more of the bird in better focus.