Theme: Juvenile White-tailed Eagle in a hurry!

[Gerald Kelberg]

Captured this Juvenile White-tailed Eagle last may in Norway - taking the bait - flying almost directly towards the boat. Must have been hungry as he wasn't at all circumspect - came in really fast and caught us off guard. But still managed to get a number of frames.
But the image was a little underexposed and the bird's right wing was clipped - so had to be rebuilt in PP, using a previous frame.

Canon EOS 1D MkIV, EF 200-400 @383
1/1000 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 1250
Adjusted and converted in DPP, modifications and adjustments in PS, including Levels, and curves with various masks, Light NR with Dfine.

I hope you like it and look forward to your comments and suggestions.

Gerald

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gerald, these come in at a rate of knots and the closer they come the more ground they cover, in addition rocking on a boat too, not an image easy to pull off, so well done in what you did.

Again, I like the trailing water from the catch, the outstretch wings and the menacing look. I think it does need some rotation, but based on he fact you had to do some 'build work' on the wing, rotation may not be a viable option due to lack of image content. Overall I think the image does again contain a lot of blue, just pulling it back into PS and going Auto (not ideal compare to the RAW) I think may offer a closer balance where you can then fine tweak respective colours. Depending on how far you go, perhaps adjusting some of the Blacks, Shadows & Contrast may offer another option to bringing out more detail? I would also suggest if you get another trip in the bag later, look to somewhere between 1/2000-1/3200 SS, remember the closer it comes towards you the harder the lens has to work.

Gerald, the only reason I say this is something that is in the pipeline about AF and 'Brutus' who is the main star.

TFS
Steve

[Gerald Kelberg]

Hi Steve,

Always appreciate your input - thanks very much! Attached repost has a little less blue, I think, and I have opened up some of the darks under the wing a notch. Do I hear you say "more!"?

In the days before DPP4 and with the MkIV, I was reluctant to go much above 1250/1600 ISO - nowadays things are different and I agree 1/2000 would be a better starting point.

Must get back to Flatanger one day - altogether fantastic and Ole a wonderful host! I'll be interested to see what Brutus has up his sleeve!

Best regards, Gerald

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gerald, I think with regard to the dark shadow areas, it's going in the right direction, the only issue when opening up shadows or dark areas as you know, is the issue that you can introduce noise. I do think you could go a bit further, try Curves, although I did use a Channels adjustment with Curves targeted at the Dark/Shadow areas, but I still feel the Blue is a bit too dominant. If you go back to the RAW try reducing it in the HSL Module and pull back the Blue in Saturation. But you may find a slight reduction also in Aqua may also help, but then it may become more subjective? You can then start to see the more 'warmer' browns etc of the Eagle coming through, but just my take.

Hopefully others will chime in.

All the best
Steve

[William Dickson]

Fantastic capture Gerald. Great action shot, and I know how difficult it is from a rocking boat. I think the last post by Steve looks best, but thats just my look on it. The details on the bird are lovely and I like the splashing and trail of water. Great pose and HA. Well done on a good piece of work.

Will

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the wing tips, splayed tails, catch, splash and Steve's repost looks great to me. Very well done under challenging conditions Gerald.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Gerald a great shot taken under not that ideal circumstances .I like the pose and the splashing water .
Tonal and color issues covered well by Steve , and i think his RP is giving you the right directions .

TFS Andreas

[arash_hazeghi]

I like the pose and the fish and the water drops, sharp details., the shadows were blocked in the original, Steve's repost improved it but I still think you can recover more


best

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Excellent action shot Gerald! Love the pose and the ferocity of the eagle's look.
Good processing done by the other guys too!
If I may add one thing that seems out is the water ripples forming the patterns make the image seem tilted. You could probably rotate and do some more rebuilding of the water.
Good work in such trying circumstances. :)

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Gerald, not an easy shot to pull off from a rocking boat and a subject intent on getting his next meal, so very well captured. I like the show of the splayed primaries, snatched fish and flying droplets. The rotation was the first thing I noticed, and Steve's work has you on the right path. Hope you get more opportunities.

[David Salem]

This is a really nice looking frame with great action and nice details. Wish we could see the fish a little better but that's not a big deal. Steve's repost looks good to me also. Well done

[Gerald Kelberg]

Thanks everyone for your comments and suggestions. Yes, Steve has done a great job on the colour - I'll try to replicate. True dropping the Blue Sat does bring up the Aqua - have to sort that out!

Because the fish seemed to hang perpendicular, I decided not to straighten the water any further - already been a bit of manipulation - maybe if I just reduce that pronounced line of water going through the foot - it will be less noticeable!

I do hope to get back for more White-talied Eagle action some time - and Norway is just so fantastic...

Best wishes, Gerald