Red Shouldered Hawk...

[Kambiz Shoarinejad]

Had taken the kids to the Huntington Beach Central Library around noon time today when I got lucky and spotted this fellow on a perch nearby... Suddenly a brave squirrel got pretty close to him on the same branch. It could have been a perfect catch for the hawk, but instead, to my surprise, he seemed to get scared or annoyed, and flew away! And that is when I managed to capture a couple of flight frames. I was happy to see the focus properly stay on the bird despite the many branches around him...

Nikon D5, 180-400mm f/4 with 1.4x TC engaged, @ 360mm (so could have flipped back to no TC but it happened so fast I didn't get a chance), f/5.6, 1/5000", ISO 800, handheld, processed in C1Pro + PS CC...

[gail bisson]

The hawk is nice and sharp and although I appreciate the "environmental real life setting, it is quite busy.
Good comp and choice of crop.
The hawk is very red- very different from Nova Scotia RSH.
I noticed that you were shooting at 1/5000. I can only dream of having this much light here in Nova Scotia!!
Gail

[Bill Dix]

Wonderful flight pose. I rather like the busy bg; the trees and branches are slender enough not to be too much of a distraction, at least for me. I also find the bird to be unusually red which prompted me to have a look at Sibley, who shows the CA race noticeably redder than our eastern version. One thing I can't figure out -- the bird's right-most tail feather appears to be intersecting a thin twig, even though the rest of the branches appear further back.

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Very nicely captured, Kambiz. Beautiful details, fully extended wing and tail positions. There is a slight white fringe on the head edges, and leading edges of the wings and tail feathers, at least on my monitor.


Geoffrey




http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu

[Dorian Anderson]

Beautiful look at this stunning raptor, but the tangle of branches is tough to overcome. A nice result for an what is described as an in-field 'grab' shot. I used to birdwatch at that location when in lived in SoCal.

[William Dickson]

I like this....Don't mind the BG, nice detail on the bird, but looking slightly over sharpened on the head area here. I would reduce the reds a wee bit.

Will

[John Mack]

The pose on the bird is great. The background is what it is. I think it gives a more realistic approach though. Having butter smooth backgrounds all the time is not really practical. Unless at set ups or out in the open where the background is distant.

[arash_hazeghi]

The BG doesn't bother me as much as the head that's tuned away from us, I think that's the main issue hurting this image that was missed above

PS. I have photos of this very same bird probably at HB library (plus the owls) I think your image is a bit too red. it is rusty but not so much. It is very hard to come up with a keeper from this location, you will have better luck at HB park

TFS

[Kambiz Shoarinejad]

Thank you all for your comments and feedback... Very much appreciate them all...

In regards to redness, I think the hawk did look similarly red in person. As I recall, I have not played with any color or saturation sliders on this image and only made small white balance adjustment. But I will go back and look again...

In regards to the head angle, agreed. The head turning away was unfortunate, though, given the light angle, its only benefit may be better lighting on the face and the eye.

Thanks again,
-K.