Sparrowhawk and Cormorant

[Eric Dienesch]

Sometimes it is really difficult.

2 days ago i catched the male sparrowhawk so close, that i had NO CHANCE to get the whole bird.
But the silent mode of the 7DII helps me to get pictures at all.
I know: Luxury Problem, when you have a prime lens mounted on a cropcam.

Too close (7D II with 600/4II at F7.1, 1/320s and iso 500, tripod)

[Ashley Cohen]

Fantastic set of images, very well taken.

[Lyle Gruby]

I definitely do not feel sorry for you that you got TOO close to the sparrowhawk! It is a beautiful bird. IQ is great. Stopping down a bit more would have gained you a little more DOF on the wings, but I still really like the shot. Crit-wise, I'd tone down that brighter tree on the right side of the BG. (I'd imagine the mods will tell you, but they only allow 1 shot at a time for critique)

[shane shacaluga]

Sparrowhawk portrait looks great. I would have tried a vertical crop and remove the bright branch on the right altogether. Maybe boosting the midtones or contrast would bring out even more details on the birds wing/back

Great problem to have with this bird!

[Daniel Cadieux]

That is a luxury problem indeed! I'd love to have a chance at a portrait from up close of an accipiter! Well done on waiting for a great look-back pose before tripping the shutter. Good details and colours. I hope you had time to take a few verticals, if not then this was still an opportunity well taken advantage of. A few streaks in the BG could be removed if within your processing ethics (I'm thinking the grey one at right edge and the other grey one at very LLC).

P.S. I removed your cormorant image as we only permit one image per thread for critique (except for re-worked reposts of the same image)

[Eric Dienesch]

@Daniel and the others: Thanx, i didn`t mentioned this area is only for one picture per thread. My fault !

I have made only a few pictures and i couldn`t turn the camera.. sorry.