Killer portrait

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Killer, if you're a rabbit, a fish, waterbird, lizard or turtle.
A second-year White-bellied Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster) - relative of your Bald Eagle I think - posed for me between takes. Takes of food that is, which I kindly offered them.
I had an insane day out today at a friend's 100-acre property near a swamp in the NW of Sydney where I was able to photograph five different sea eagles during the course of the 12 hours I crammed myself into the hide. (enter and exit in the dark)

Canon EOS 5DMkIII
500mm f/4L IS USM and stacked 2x and 1.4x TCs (MkII), total FL = 1,400mm
ISO 3200, f/16, 1/1000th, tripod, Wimberley gimbal, hide
Crop for comp and cleaned up a bit of crap on the bill.

[gail bisson]

Your technical skills with stacked converters is blowing me away! So sharp...Love your DOF.
IQ and details are awesome.
Side lighting works well.
I find the image a bit monochromatic and I wonder if you could punch up the saturation a bit? But you were there so will trust your judgement.
A beautiful portrait Akos.
Sounds like you had a great day!
gail

[Joseph Przybyla]

Nicely done Akos, magnificent bird. Thank you for sharing.

[Karl Egressy]

Well done Akos, nice portrait. Nice work with the stacked converters.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Handsome bird! Excellent details despite stacking TCs. Well composed against a nice varied BG.
Did you lift any shadows on the left side? You handled the tricky side lighting well.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Did you lift any shadows on the left side? You handled the tricky side lighting well.

Thank you. Yes, shadows +12, blacks +18 in ACR. Probably could do without though. Don't mind the side lighting at all.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Well done Akos, manually focusing is not easy, tricky lighting, you did a good job, I would suggest toning down the highlights a little, I appreciate they are bright but if lowered I suspect it might be a tad more pleasing.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Thanks for your suggestion Jonathan. The 5DMkIII can AF with stacked TCs at f/11 with the firmware upgrade. That's because all cameras pick-up only the 2x, not the 1.4x. Slow AF, but solid.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks for your suggestion Jonathan. The 5DMkIII can AF with stacked TCs at f/11 with the firmware upgrade. That's because all cameras pick-up only the 2x, not the 1.4x. Slow AF, but solid.

Wow that's good to know I wonder if this applies to the 1DX??

[William Dickson]

Well done Akos, fab looking image. I like the comp.

Will

[Mike Hitchen]

Apparently it picks up the tc nearest the lens so the order you mount them is important

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Wow that's good to know I wonder if this applies to the 1DX??

I can't see why not.
Don't know how the newer lenses and TCs combine, but my MkI 500/4L IS USM has to have the 2x MkII attached to it then the 1.4x MkII attaches to the 2x and the camera to the 1.4x. So lens/2x/1.4x/camera is how it works. Plus you can't put a 2x into the 1.4x, not without a tube probably (I haven't any tubes so didn't try).

If you have a MkII super tele and the MkIII converters then I believe an extension tube is required between the 2x and the 1.4x as the 1.4x just does not fit into the 2x without it.

Let us know how it works Jonathan. The AF may be actually OK with the 1Dx and the MkIII converters. Potentially a little faster than the MkII converters I have.

[Lorant Voros]

Awesome IQ with the stacked converters. Side lighting looks good and there is plenty of detail both in the lit and shady areas. Sweet work. TFS.

[keith mitchell]

Akos I'm amazed after reading the above comments, certainly got you an excellent piece of work.

Keith.