Theme: White-tailed Eagle grabbing lunch!

[Gerald Kelberg]

An image from last May in Norway - mid-morning sun was peeking over the cliffs - leaving the shore in darkness - perfect for a backlight with the sun catching the splash. This White-tailed Eagle came for the bait and earned himself an early lunch!

Canon EOS 1DMk4, EF 200-400 @ 334mm, hand held
1/2000 sec @ f/6.3, ISO 400
Converted in DPP4, in PS5 used Layers and Curves to vary relative brightness of background and the Eagle

I hope you enjoy - and look forward to your comments and suggestions.

Gerald

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Gerald ...... what not to like about this frame !!!

Stunning backlight shot , well framed and the splashing water makes this work very well .Great timing of yours .
Great job !

TFS Andreas

[Jonathan Ashton]

Gerald that is very impressive and a very unusual image, well done!

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gerald, this to me is always a striking image when you see them side on like this and with that trail of spray and 'catch' slung below, nice one, BTW was this with Ole, just a guess?

I do like the composition and the overall power the subject conveys. Just a thought, but have you thought about pushing it even more as an alternative, loose the detail as such and have that rich black as the overall 'canvas', using the highlights & saturated parts to give the 'form', if you know what I mean?

TFS
Steve

[Gerald Kelberg]

Hi Steve, Yes, this was out on the fiord with Ole - one of those breathtakingly beautiful mornings that you sear permanently into your memory!

I do have an alternative version I did some time back which is more as you suggest, but I was less happy with that... maybe I need to revisit again and see what more I can do!

Best wishes, Gerald

[Steve Kaluski]

Small world!
If you have the time then it might be worth a revisit Gerald, fresh pair of eyes and you could be pleasantly surprised, as I said, just a thought.

[keith mitchell]

Gerald great action ,excellent work, like this a lot.

Keith.

[arash_hazeghi]

Her Gerald, excellent take off, this image has a lot of potential. If you want send me the RAW file and I'll work on it, I'd recover a lot more shadow detail without supressing the overall mood of the image

best

[Mike Poole]

A fantastic capture with that lighting. A little in-between a dark and moody shot, and a more detailed image, so I'll be very interested in seeing what RP's come from this if you let others take a look at the RAW (or have an alternative go yourself!)

[arash_hazeghi]

This would be my edit Gerald. I wish you had light on eagle to make him stand out against the dark BG, nevertheless, this I brought out more details fro, the shadows in DPP4

[Gerald Kelberg]

Hey Arash,

Many thanks for taking the time to reprocess this image - something to learn from! Much appreciated!

I think my vision is a little different than yours on this one - I prefer to have the balance between the shadow on the bird and the background closer to where I had it. I find the bird a little too bright in your execution. Personal taste, but also the WTEs are quite dark birds and would need to have more direct light to get there.

I can see from your version that mine has a slight blue cast which seems appropriate to the shadows, but I'll look at easing that back.

Thanks again and best wishes, Gerald

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hi Gerald,

I certainly enjoyed this image: it is superb, and also very original. Just the right amount of detail on the bird and I like the dark BG for it does not detract from the subject.

I do understand the effect you were seeking and I believe you achieved it to a great extent in your OP, at the same time I must agree, Arash has done a wonderful job with his RP in terms of colours, they look so natural and the blue cast removed.

Stunning image and I hope you have more to share with us

Kind regards,

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I do love the original Gerald and it also seems to have a coolish cast, which I'd expect in that region to convey the chill in the air.
Arash did some nice work and I like it too. I would not have a clue which version looks like the way it should be according to its faithfulness to the scene before you.
I thought 1/2000th may be too fast using ISO400 against such dark tones. Was the RAW file underexposed?
Overall a striking shot! Well done!

[Gerald Kelberg]

Hey Akos, nice to see you back again!

Chilly compared to Sydney, maybe, but quite a balmy morning on the fiord (+/- 10C). Agreed, the work that Arash has done is credit to his high skills; but I prefer the darker version - nearer the original.

No, the raw was not underexposed - the challenge was to avoid blowing out the highlights on the bird, switching between 1/1600 and 1/2000 to keep things under control.

Looking forward to seeing more of your images!

Best wishes, Gerald

[Gerald Kelberg]

Hi Peter,

Good to hear from you - that's a strange Dutch flag, isn't it!

Thanks for picking up on that - an easy repair!

Best wishes, Gerald