Northern Harrier

[David Salem]

Hope everyone has been well. Sorry I haven't been able to participate as much as I would like lately as by business has become crazy busy.

Here is one of my favorites from last winter. I had a client out with me from Canada and he came down specifically to capture raptors and Harriers were his top subject. Rainy weather plagued the 3 day shoot but fortunately the last evening was beautiful and we got some great harrier passes.
He didn't get this frame as he was shooting with a slower camera, D850, and this pose flashed in front of us in a millisecond. She was flying by, and then, as harriers do, she turned on a dime and banked away, revealing this sweet shot in the cameras LCD afterwards. Needless to say I had a big smile when I looked at the frame with this beautiful pose and head angle.
Those extra few frames per second make a big difference and I have seen direct results of this many times in the past year. The master TIFF file is crazy sharp as the bird was at the perfect range, probably 40-50ft! One of my favorite harrier shots ever!! Hope you like it.

D5---850mm---f5.6---ss1/3200th---ISO800---Hand held from truck@5:20pm---40% crop

Thanks as always for looking and for your input. I appreciate it.

David

[David Roach]

Awesome under side view with fully spread wings and tail. BG also unreal and really makes this beauty pop. TFS

[Bill Dix]

Stunning! Great look, fanned tail, banking pose, and light. TFS.

[dankearl]

Gee, too bad about the sun angle......
Outstanding, David, another one for your excellent Portfolio.
Capturing that loop t loop they do to get this shot is so hard... Congratulations.

[gail bisson]

WOW, WOW and WOW!
I have nothing else to say!
Congrats on a superb image!
Gail

[David Salem]

Gee, too bad about the sun angle......
Outstanding, David, another one for your excellent Portfolio.
Capturing that loop t loop they do to get this shot is so hard... Congratulations.

To Funny Dan!! I think I saw you mention my term for this sun angle. DFC!!

Thanks again

[David Salem]

Thanks David, Bill and Gail!! Glad you like it!!

[John Mack]

Fancy. Top notch as always.

[Juan Tolentino]

David, please add a few more WOWs to Gail’s comment and that’s all I have to say . Congrats! Superb image.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Excellent Image. Everything looks perfect.

TFS

[Tim Foltz]

Dave one of your better Harrier shots, love the angle and details. That truck blind works awesome.

-Tim

[kevin Hice]

Great shot David I think I like the light and background colors the most.

[arash_hazeghi]

that's a sick shot man, awesome

[Doug Brown]

Superb! Not much else to say.

[Jack Backs]

Super image. When you say hand held from a truck, I presume you mean resting on a pad out the window.
I'm puzzled by the 850mm. 600x1.4 is 840

[David Salem]

Thanks so much everyone!! Glad you like it!!

[David Salem]

Super image. When you say hand held from a truck, I presume you mean resting on a pad out the window.
I'm puzzled by the 850mm. 600x1.4 is 840

Thanks Jack,

Funny that you mention that because I really have never mentioned it here but that's exactly what I'm doing. Sitting in a car and then picking up a 600mm and then panning with the bird flying by. Not very easy to do, and half time the car is still moving:)
My camera is mostly sitting on the bean bag hanging on my window as I drive around, then for flight shots I pick up the rig and try to Pan with the bird, otherwise the perched shots are all steadied on the bean bag.
As for the 850 mm, I'm not sure if Nikon's 1.4extender might be a hair different but that's what Nikon calls it, so I started calling it the same too. Look I just got a bit more reach!!
Thanks again

[William Dickson]

What else is there to say....This is absolutely fabulous David....

Will

[Raybel Robles]

Amazing shot for sure! Sueprb pose and details.

[annmpacheco]

Just wow, what skill you have David, this is perfect.

[Alex Becker]

Can't add a lot more here! My first thought was 'DFC' so had a laugh scrolling down to see that same comment. Just curious, what was the background here? TFS

[David Salem]

Can't add a lot more here! My first thought was 'DFC' so had a laugh scrolling down to see that same comment. Just curious, what was the background here? TFS

Thanks so much William, Ray and Ann!!

Thanks Alex,

I was a little puzzled by this background also when I 1st saw it because the bird was flying through the typical green reedy marshy area she was flying through. I think it was some dying discolored reeds and trees in the distance that she just went through for only that 1 frame also.

When I cooled the image down a bit globally it did change the background color a little bit but I like it so I kept it that way.
Thanks again