I lucked out on an Osprey perched pretty low and not fleeing at first sight! This one was basically not preoccupied by my presence, despite what this image depicts. This species hangs out near water and feeds exclusively on fish, and sure enough it was found along the shores of the Ottawa River.
Canon 7D + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/160s., f/5.6, ISO 800, natural light, handheld, almost FF, a long thin branch touching the shoulder to our left cloned out, and a few specular highlights seeping through the BG filled in, NR to BG.
I like the bird very much, I didn't realise the talons were so large!!
I am just a little reserved about the background it looks "softened to me", the leaves somehow don't quite ring true - WDYT is it just me???
Jon, the leaves are as taken in-camera. I guess a combination of distance away from focal point, the fact is was a bit windy (plus a slow-ish SS) all combined to give that look to them.
Randy, perhaps a first-year bird...not 100% sure though.
Very funny pose as the bird looks so skinny! Great eye contact and I like the idea of not removing all the BG elements as some people here believe that that´s the best approach. I prefer not so ´´clean´´ BGs and this one is great.
Great capture Daniel - awesome pose and your usual excellent IQ and techs. I don't mind the background - the leaves really add to the image, but I'm not a fan of the oof stick behind the tail - not a deal-breaker though - great work
A natural image, and while the background tends to be busy, the crafted composition, stare, and wing position drew me right in to this image, so I rather love it , just as it is.
Osprey Staring Contest.
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