Swainson Hawk

[Mike Quigley]

I shot this beauty at the World Raptor Center in Boise ID. Every weekend in the fall they fly 4 to 5 birds and was able to get some nice shots. This is a great place to go and get some real practice, but they also have a great educational program about many endangered birds. The center is also the home for the Peregrine Fund. In hindsight I wish I had been at f5.6 for a little more sharpness.
Nikon D500
300PF F/4
1/5000
@F/4
300mm
iso 360

[David Roach]

This one's Easy... Perfection...

[Bill Dix]

A beautiful flight shot, for sure. It might benefit from a tiny bit more brightness, and perhaps moving the bird a sliver to the left in the frame. Certainly a shot I would love to have.

I remember visiting the World Raptor Center, and found it very interesting. Unfortunately my visit was not on a flight day.

[Mike Quigley]

Thank you both for your accolades and astute criticism

[Mike Diersing]

Outstanding shot; I really like the dorsal position with soft background. I would agree about the brightness. I think you could lift the shadows a bit more, as well.

[annmpacheco]

Super flight image Mike, increase in exposure may pull even more detail, worth the effort! Lovely BG to compliment the hawk

[John Mack]

Nice flight frame. The composition is nice and the depth of field looks good to me. Maybe up the exposure just a little.

[Isaac Grant]

Pretty shot of this captive bird. Nice details and a great look at the topside of the bird. I agree with the advice already given. The shot is too dark and I think the bird is a bit centered and like Bill's suggestion to move the bird to the left more. In addition the bird and the background are noisy. Here is a quick redo with increased exposure, a bit more detail brought out of the bird, changed the white balance to make the sky bluer and the bird a bit deeper and ran NR on the bird and the background. I also moved the bird a little left in the frame. Usual disclaimers that all of this is best done on the full res TIFF and this is only to give an idea of where I think the colors should be. You were at ISO 360 so clearly had plenty of light which should reflect more in the photo. Bird is a bit too blue now on my repost but didn’t do any selective adjustments. It would be best to go back to the RAW and only import this photo to Photoshop once you have the white balance corrected and the exposure spot on. Then you will have a simple file to process in PS.

[gail bisson]

Isaac's repost is excellent. Only thing I would do differently is I would exclude the white part at bottom right when increasing the exposure
Would love to see you repost Mike!
Gail

[Arthur Morris]

I would have selectively lightened only the bird as the sky color in Isaac's repost is quite yucky and the snow-covered (?) mountain is now a big distraction. And as noted above, the bird is too far forward in the original post. The sharpness, feather detail, and top shot pose are all spectacular.

with love, artie

[Mike Quigley]

Thanks again everyone for some stellar advice. I will work on the post again. Im not all that great with my post talents, so thanks for all your help.

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Excellent flight capture of this beauty, Mike. I like the what looks to be bright defused light and a perfect dorsal view. I noticed on the leading edge of the tail and wings plus head, there is a light halo.

Geoffrey




http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks again everyone for some stellar advice. I will work on the post again. Im not all that great with my post talents, so thanks for all your help.

YAW Mike. You can flatten your Photoshop learning curve with Digital Basics II.

with love, artie