Cape Breton Eagle

[gail bisson]

This giant pine tree is by the side of the Cabot Trail.I have driven past this tree on the way to the cottage a thousand times and have always wished for a good bird to perch on this particular branch.
I finally got my wish last week.I took about 300 images at various settings and composition as well as at 600 mm, 840 mm and 1200 mm. Always exciting to have a cooperative subject!
It was a cloudy day.
This is about 80% FF.
I had my camera setting to cloudy but it made the image too yellow (thanks for the help Isaac)
PP Crop, sliders in LR, adjusted color balance, off to CS 5 for NR x2, auto-tone at 50% opacity, levels, reduced yellows in whites by 30 points and added 1 point of black to the blacks. DE at 1% and USM to JPEG
Comments and critiques always appreciated and learned from with thanks,
Gail
Aargh... the BG looks pixellated which often happens to my images when I download to BPN. It looks fine in my files.

[annmpacheco]

aaarrrhhh indeed, this is a lovely frame Gail however there is noise as noted... Wonderful frame and i like the open beak and head on stare, go get em!

[Isaac Grant]

looks pretty good Gail. Great perch and background. Nice calling pose and eye contact. Ignore the pixelation in the background. Downsized files with light green backgrounds are very hard and as you say it is absent in the full res file. Being nitpicky I would try and tone down the top of the head a touch and also try and make the tail a bit whiter. Maybe select the tail and go to selective color. Reduce the blacks in the white by -10 to -15. That should do the trick.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Wow Gail, Congrats on getting this. Wonderful image, beautiful bird on a fascinating perch and the calling pose takes this higher. TFS.

[John Mack]

Love the open mouth here. Nice background. Frame has good detail through out.

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Great capture, Gail and neat back story. Wonderful calling to you pose. Like the open crop giving him plenty of room.

Congratulations on not one, but two beautiful images in this years Audubon top 100.

Geoffrey




http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu

[Daniel Cadieux]

Congrats on this great sighting on that wished-for tree! I too find that green BGs, especially when NR has been applied, tend to pixelate online.

[Mike Poole]

Stunning bird, and a great perch - very kind of him!. I see where Isaac is coming from, to me the tail looks natural given the conditions, so I'd be happy with this as presented

Mike

[Jonathan Ashton]

Lovely shot but I personally think you are really hammering those pixels with all those adjustments, I would be far more inclined to maximise raw conversion and do as little as possible in PS. I really do think the results would be better.

[Glenn Pure]

Coming in late here Gail: this works a treat and can see why you hoped to get a bird perched there one day. Beautiful setting and background, wonderful bird and great pose - all handled in capture and post to your very high standards. But more importantly, congrats on your Audubon selections in the Top 100. Fabulous result, well deserved.

[gail bisson]

Coming in late here Gail: this works a treat and can see why you hoped to get a bird perched there one day. Beautiful setting and background, wonderful bird and great pose - all handled in capture and post to your very high standards. But more importantly, congrats on your Audubon selections in the Top 100. Fabulous result, well deserved.

Thanks Glenn!