Juvenile Osprey flight training

[Diane Miller]

An early test hop by this female juvenile. She stayed more or less airborne for almost three minutes, touching the nest a couple of times and right back up. This was mid-afternoon when the winds had come up to give her the idea and a little help. There were some light scattered clouds this day, which helped with the lighting a little, but still not ideal. A few days later she was soloing.

Canon 1DX2, 400 DO II + 1.4X III, hand held. ISO 1600, 1/2500 at f/7.1.

Basic tonal adjustments in LR and into PS for some local contrast adjustments, mostly on the head. Cropped to 70% of full frame.

[David Salem]

My first impression is that it looks just a little bright or that the highlights were increased by using the shadows slider but the more I look at it the better it looks. The lighting conditions weren't the best but I like the solid eye contact and the feet and wing positions. The clouds in the BG add to the blue sky and the little bit of the nest looks great.
Well done

[Diane Miller]

Thanks David! The lighting here is a little strange, with the subject backlit, a lot of bounce off our California summer dry grass, the sticks in the nest and an adjacent very green vineyard. I shot on daylight WB and didn't change it in post, but when I added a gentle curve in PS it saturated the colors noticeably. I think I should back off on the saturation a bit. In processing the exposure was left as shot (on M, trying to walk the tightrope between underwing shadows and blown whites) but I did bring Highlights left and Shadows right some. Can be easy to overdo that.

Here's a RP with exp down 1/3 and yellows tamed a bit. I like it better. Thanks for the nudge.

Many of the early flights were backlit in mid-afternoon -- frustrating. I much prefer the more normal lighting of an earlier post, taken at 6 pm:
http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...flying-lessons

[Jonathan Ashton]

Excellent details - prefer repost, wonderful colours. I personally am not too keen on the head angle otherwise top notch.

[David Salem]

Looks better Diane.

[Warren Spreng]

Really nice and sharp, gotta love the talons! RP looks great!

[Glennie Passier]

Wonderful Diane! I do like the repost better. You have handled the harsh conditions very well. The young girl still seems apprehensive about taking off. The wings want to do it, but the look in her eyes tell me that she needs to be focused on the sticks.