Regal Fish Eagle

[Morkel Erasmus]

The king of the African skies, with a hauntingly beautiful call and plumage to match.
On the recent photo safari I led to the Chobe river we were able to pull our specialised photographic boat in close to this female sitting on the edge of the riverbank. This is full frame @ 36 megapixels!
I got verticals as well but really liked how the wind swept up the crest here (no natural crest on them). This eagle is related to the Bald Eagle and the White-tailed Sea Eagle and Stellar's Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus genus).

Techs:
Nikon D800
Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II
f4.0 | 1/1250 SS | ISO-140

[Raybel Robles]

WOW!!!! what an image! I love raptors and this one is a beauty!

Amazing photo rich in details, specially on the whites that can be tricky to get sometimes. This is an outstanding portrait shot and there nothing I can say looks wrong. It is SUPERB!

[John Guastella]

Gorgeous bird and image, incredible amount of detail (the spokes of pigmented material in the eye, for example).

I know there is a general trend to position the main element of a photo far from center, but personally I think cropping a bit from the right side would improve the composition. I'm probably in the minority on this, though.

John

[Richard Flack]

Stunning image Morkel! Awesome detail and cool crest. Well done.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Stunning image with tons of detail, great exposure and very nice composition. I would love to see the full bird with its talons!

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

This indeed looks like an Haliaeetus!
Love the proud pose, the eye looks like a marble. You must have been very close to come away with a FF of this fantastic bird, good for you amigo!

[Leo Berzins]

Beautiful detailed portrait Morkel.
I'm amazed that you could get so close to a wild raptor.

[Mike Landwehr]

Beautiful subject, beautifully captured! I love the exposure on the whites, the over-the-shoulder head turn, the detail overall (but especially in the eye). I'm a fan of the composition, as well.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Just beautiful - love it the quality is outstanding.

[keith mitchell]

Amazed at the quality of this image.

Keith.

[Loi Nguyen]

Morkel, stunning portrait of a top avian predator. The details on the white and the dark feathers are impressive, and couple with the BG, you would think this is a studio shot. Loi

[Karl Egressy]

Outstanding IQ, great all around portrait shot, Morkel.

[christopher galeski]

excellent image,love theBG,sharpness and detail superb in the bird,and a great pose.well done.

[Satish Ranadive]

Magnificent portrait of majestic eagle.Wonderful colours and fine details.Excellent IQ.

Regards,
Satish.

[Thinus Schoeman]

Hi Morkel, one lucky fish to get that close to this majestic bird. As far as bird portraits go, I think this is just about as good as it gets. Excellent sharpness and exposure, and the level of fine detail takes this over the top. Well done!

Thinus

[Bill Dix]

What a wonderful, imperious pose from a stunning bird. Details superb, and the background colors are the perfect complement to the bird.

[Doug Brown]

Beautiful bird and exquisite detail. Like the BG too. I could see cropping slightly off the right and maybe pushing your exposure to the right a bit.

[HadiAnsari]

hi Morkel.Beautiful portrait.details on the white and the dark feathers are impressive, and couple with the BG.TFS

[Rob Melone]

Regal indeed. Top-notch Morkel!

[arash_hazeghi]

it's a very handsome eagle and your portrait did justice to him

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks for your kind comments, folks...

[David Salem]

Great looking portrait of this awesome looking Eagle. Love the detail and exposure on this one. Very nice.