Red-shouldered Hawk

[Joseph Przybyla]

I captured this image yesterday mid-afternoon at Circle B Bar Reserve. I shot the bird from several angles trying to find the best separation between the bird and bushes. Comment and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D90
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED shot at 400mm (600mm FFE)
1/1600 F/5.6 Matrix Metering 0 EV ISO 400
Post processed in Lightroom 5 and Photoshop Elements 10
Cropped about 50% for composition

[arash_hazeghi]

handsome raptor, I like the perch and the BG. IQ isn't great image is a bit soft and noisy and lacks contrast. A bit head turn towards us would have been ideal too

TFS

[Marina Scarr]

I worked on the image a little bit to add some contrast. Your light was pretty harsh and the image and bird look a bit washed out. I agree with Arash that your bird isn't as sharp as you would like. I tried adding some sharpening but was unsuccessful. I am good with the pose here, and like how his head falls in a perfect window in the vegetation. You seem to have had enough speed to get this image sharp. Are you hand holding and what method are you using to steady your lens while hand holding?