Eagle
I drove up to a nearby college where there is an eagle's nest and one of the adults was in a pine tree. I photographed this with a 7D2 and a 100-400 lens with a 2x teleconverter added. The lens was at 400mm, ISO at 1250 (probably could have been less), shutter speed at 1/500 and the aperture was f11.
This was shot in the early morning. I used LR and Photoshop to edit.
Thanks for any comments and suggestions.
Hi, Nice to see a bad eagle - we don't see them in our parts. The eagle shot is clear and sharp. I like the patters on its feathers (which also mimics the bark pattern to some extent.) He seems aloof because he is looking away and the angle looking up creates a psychological distance. In such a situation I wait around for something to happen - the bird to look at me, to preen or shake its feathers or perhaps catch it as it is taking off - wait for something exciting and out of the ordinary. Thanks for sharing. Cheers, Ihtisham
Thanks, Ihtisham. I was hoping he would do something and then while I was checking my histogram he flew away. Naturally.Originally Posted by Ihtisham Kabir
I know how that one goes. Sigh. They wait until the instant your attention is diverted when taking off. I lost a similar opportunity with a rare honey buzzard the other day. Oh well.
I love bald eagle. A lot. Sharpness is okay here but I think you got the focus on the wing rather than on the eyes. Fortunately, you are saved by the depth of field!
The head turn is good for me but your vantage point is a little too low. Hopefully you will get a chance to photograph another one again soon! :D
Thanks for your comments, Adhika. I was using manual focus and tried to focus on the eye but may have missed it. Yes, I had to aim up because he (or she) was up in the pine tree.
Lovely sighting! I love how he blends in with the tree. I can't judge focus or sharpness from a web JPEG but at 800mm your shutter speed could be on thin ice. Were you on a tripod -- how sturdy?? Holding the camera as firmly as possible to prevent mirror slap? Silent shutter may have less vibration... Maybe.... You can use Live View focus but it doesn't narrow down to a very small area such as the head.
Is this the new 100-400 II? The III TC??
It seems a little overexposed, especially in the whites -- have you lowered exposure from the capture? (Overexposure is good for lowest noise as long as highlights are not too blown to recover.) Exposure down, Highlights down and Shadows up is usually a good balance to start with.
More details about your processing...??
HI Catherine, Good to see you hear :). Even the eye is relatively sharp but you were facing a pretty much impossible situation with the bird in a clutter spot and perched so high above you... a
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Hi Catherine! Always great to spot a BE! I do like his "hide out" pose among the pines. At F11, DOF caught not only the eagle, but most everything around him. A bit wider aperture would help pin-point the eagle a bit and provide some extra SS. Very nice feather detail. Depending on how much "spare space" you have... do you have room to try a vertical comp? TFS!
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I was using a tripod but could not use live view because the camera was pointed up. I always try to hold the camera firmly but was not using a cable release. I get lazy. The lens is the new 100-400 and the 1.4 is the III. The exposure was a bit too much so I had to lower the highlights in LR and I may have also lowered the exposure on the highlights. Next time I check the histogram before the bird flies away.
Thanks, Diane. You brought up some good points.
I will try the vertical and see what happens. Thanks.
I have better luck with composition and focus by looking thru the viewfinder and relying on single point autofocus. In live view, you can't focus on a very small area. I think it's more stable, at the shutter speeds we use, to just grip the camera firmly and press it against your forehead, and trip the shutter as gently as possible. On a tripod the lens is more like balanced or supported than locked, so it has a lot of leeway to vibrate when the mirror slaps up, especially with a cable release and you not touching (i.e. steadying and vibration-damping) the camera. At 800mm it is frustrating to prevent vibration or shake, but can be done. Just takes care and awareness of the pitfalls.
But that's just a generalization -- I can't say you have shake or poor focus here -- you can evaluate that in LR at 1:1. If you have a catchlight, that's a good clue.
Not sure what you mean by, "I had to lower the highlights in LR and I may have also lowered the exposure on the highlights." Lowering exposure will lower the highlights. So will lowering the Highlight slider. But if you overexposed the capture a little, that's good, as long as you didn't blow the highlights beyond recovery. That means you don't dig out as much noise by needing to raise shadows. LR will do some highlight recovery (and shadows), but you can do more with the sliders, with care. Set overall Exposure first, then tweak the Highlights and Shadows sliders as needed. Then maybe back off Contrast if needed to avoid extremes on the H and S sliders. There are some pitfalls, but you have a lot of leeway.
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