My first Eagle BIF

[Sandy Witvoet]

Out on the boat, intending to photo Loons... they were not in the "mood" for a photo op, but this Bald Eagle accommodated and gave me a decent "fly by"! Nice Surprise!
Hand held from our "bobbing boat"
Canon 60D, 400mm DO F/4, AV, f5.6, 1/1600, ISO 800, +2/3 ec., shot in RAW.
Due to rather harsh sun, head was washed out... used Diane's tutorial on whites... had to drop whites 100%, could only reduce highlights by about 28%, since beyond that some other odd "glows" started showing up. Adjusted shadows and blacks a bit. Converted and adjusted the contrast and yellows of the bg (since it was quite contrasty and bright with the spring leaves.) Cropped from horizontal and a bit off the top since there was no more room at the bottom.
Thanks for looking!

[John Goldman]

Very difficult bird, for me, to get the bright white head and tail with the chocolate brown body perfectly exposed in bright sun conditions. You've done quite well with showing detail considering what appears to have been a bright sunny day with the sun high in the sky.
I like the OOF vegetation BG. Helps to make the bird stand out. Sure beats a clear sky BG.

[Sandy Witvoet]

Thanks, John! Glad you like the vegetation.... but, actually, I kinda like it too.

[Tim Harding]

I think you did a great job rescuing those whites. Well done!

[Diane Miller]

Veeery nice! You handled the contrast well! Great catch with good focus and detail! Sometimes whites are just out of range, as they may be on top of the head here, but for me it isn't a big problem for this image.

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Not bad at all for a first one - wishing you stacks more! I'm surprised to see the shadows of the feet against the body - the sun must have reflected quite strongly from the water surface. But I think that helped with clarity & focus. Nice one!

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Sandy, You did a very nice job with the processing. The sharpness, pose, and underwing detail are great. The background is what it is but is far less than ideal as it is too proximal to the subject and too busy at least for me.

As to the WHITEs: try to bring them out of the RAW conversion with the RGB values no greater than 230-235. This will ensure detail there. With practice, study, and careful attention to detail you will learn to do that in the field via histogram evaluation. Be sure to use your RGB histogram. And be very aware of blinkies.

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Sandy, I think you did well here. Very good sharpness and details on the dark feathers. Understand the light was harsh and you tried to recover the whites, but I think you went a bit far and the whites now look a bit grayish and not "real." The bird's chest was in the bright sun as depicted by the brighter area of the dark feather, so I would expect the white that are illuminated by the sun to be brilliant white. I think the +2/3 EV proved to be too much here with a less than bright BG. Did you shoot in AV or Manual mode? Loi

[Sandy Witvoet]

Hi all... sorry for my delay in acknowledging your comments...(been having puter problems). Thank you all for your comments and recommendations. MUCH appreciated!
Tim and Diane... a simple THANK YOU! Your comments mean a lot to me.
Tobie... good EYE! Since the Eagle had just taken off from standing in mud, I thought it was just mud under his tail.... but shadow makes more sense.
Artie... big thanks for your comments and recs re: field and PP. REALLY appreciate the RGB value reminder.
Loi... thank you very much! (I LOVE your images!) Was shot in AV... I had about one second to compose it. The whites may look a bit odd.... but WAY better than the "white blob" of the original...Sun was pretty much hitting the top of his head, as you can see from the slight eye-catch, which created some quite challenging lighting conditions. I just have to shoot them when I'm lucky enough to spot them, quick adjust some settings... I don't believe in going to locations where you can set up a tripod and shoot... but that's just me....I'm kind of a loner.... so try to make the best of what presents itself.
Hope to get some decent Loon images soon!

[Iain Barker]

Hi Sandy

I really like this image. I think the pose you have captured is great. I also really like the way the lighting shows of the detail in the darker feathers. Its a shame you haven't been able to completely rescue the whites on the head. I do wonder if more could still be done to the head as there does look to be some detail in all the feathers.

TFS,
Iain

[Sandy Witvoet]

Hi Iain,
Thanks for looking and for your comments, glad you like it... I tried to pull a bit more detail out of the whites... but they pretty much aren't there, without looking really weird. Hey, there is always "next time"! It's what keeps us going back... (kinda like Golf, if you know what I mean...)