Bald Eagle

[John Whaley]

I took this yesterday evening. I have been watching this Eagle but did not expect her to land right in front of my blind. If I had known the action was going to be close I would not have used the 1.4 X but I was looking for some midair Eagle / Osprey. In this shot she had just spotted an Osprey in the air with a fish. 1/1600, f/8, auto ISO-1800, 700mm with 1.4III extender. Not much crop here and I had to cut the file size down so much for this post that it looses much of the detail available at full resolution.

[Jonathan Ashton]

It's a fine shot John, well focused. It would be easy to add canvas and fill in with content aware etc. I would suggest lowering the brightness and or luminosity on the whites, bill and legs. The image is very tight at the base - the claw is barely in, I would certainly fix that if nothing else.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I agree with Jon's critique - that plain blue sky would make it a breeze to extend the canvas. You got some neat textures and layers in those near wing flight feathers. Bummer the perch is not so great.

[John Whaley]

I agree with Jon's critique - that plain blue sky would make it a breeze to extend the canvas. You got some neat textures and layers in those near wing flight feathers. Bummer the perch is not so great.

Thank you for the feedback. I have not tried content aware but I will give it a try and I actually have brought the whites down a bit but can easily do more. It is really exciting to have one of these birds up close and personal. I had not realized just how big they are. I have been watching Osprey all summer and this bird makes an adult Osprey look small.

[Bob Smith]

You've captured a terrific pose here John, that has all the components, I think, to be well exposed but it lacks the punch I think you could bring out with more processing, maybe as a first start even by just pulling down the curves line. Is this out of the "road kill" blind you mentioned earlier? I'm in Northern B.C. right now and have been looking for a road kill for a week hoping to get some magpie shots,,,,,but no luck.

[John Whaley]

Shots that might have been... This is the next in the sequence + - Look top center

[Daniel Cadieux]

It is really exciting to have one of these birds up close and personal.

I can just imagine! There are only a handful up here during the breeding season, and they spook from 200 hundred yards away!

[Stu Bowie]

Hi John, well timed to have captured the alert pose, and love the head turn. Well exposed on the darker feathers, and another vote for toning down the whites. You were so fortunate to have such a beautiful subject perch close to you. Hope you got lots of shots.