Theme: Head First

[Brian Sump]

A snack for the juvi male Harrier I've been following.

You can see the undeveloped eye sclera previously mentioned.

R5
600mm + 1.4x
Handheld
ISO 1600
1/2500
f7.1

LR and PS, DN. Evicted a couple stray grasses.

[David Roach]

Hi Brian, What a wonderful subject you've found. Love the framing, environment, light and pose. The EXP and details off the charts with perfect sharpening as well. Prey (what's left) adds as well. TFS

ps
Love those lore feathers and that eye...

[dankearl]

Pretty great. You did not mention crop, as good as this is, if looser, even better details if you have it.
It must have been close, maybe a bit too close as the tip of the mouse tail not in focus unless it was blurred in PP.
Excellent field craft to get this close.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Brian, love the bird and the prey, wonderful capture. I get the feeling that this is a large crop, some of the sharpening appears coarse on my display. If this has been cropped and you have more around the bird I think the image would work better. Thank you for sharing.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Pretty neat harrier close-up! Nice to see one with prey too. Tough crop, not bad, but right at a spot where I'm sure you would have wanted to get just a bit closer. These guys are skittish, so sometimes its good not to tempt chances too much!

[Brian Sump]

Good catch guys, yes it's about 60%. Originally started with full profile and zoomed to screenshot the eye so we could see the sclera, which I was going to add to the post. Then seeing the portrait version I liked it better.

Sometimes when you're engrossed in your image it can be difficult to have an objective take on the end result.

More from this shoot later... with less crop of course

[annmpacheco]

Really cool to see this shot Brian, what a great encounter. I think i see a splatter of blood below the crossed grasses!

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Very nice shot. I am happy with the crop as it is.

TFS

[Paul Burdett]

Hi Brian. Great closeup view! I'm actually fine with the crop...that face really hits you! Lovely sharpness, colours and detail. Cheers.

[Brian Sump]

Really cool to see this shot Brian, what a great encounter. I think i see a splatter of blood below the crossed grasses!

Ann, yes you picked up on that. Small detail that is evidence of the carnage!

Very nice shot. I am happy with the crop as it is.

TFS

Krishna, I am glad to hear that. Thanks for chiming in!

Hi Brian. Great closeup view! I'm actually fine with the crop...that face really hits you! Lovely sharpness, colours and detail. Cheers.

Paul, your feedback is apprecaited. Stoked to hear you enjoy it!

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Brian, great view of the Harrier with its prey. I like the feather detail and the sharp detail around the head and face. I also like the colours of the BG. Well captured.

[Randy Stout]

Good catch guys, yes it's about 60%. Originally started with full profile and zoomed to screenshot the eye so we could see the sclera, which I was going to add to the post. Then seeing the portrait version I liked it better.

Sometimes when you're engrossed in your image it can be difficult to have an objective take on the end result.

More from this shoot later... with less crop of course

Brian: Dramatic shot, well critiqued by the crew. I call it "processing blindness" when you work on an image enough that you lose the 'big picture' view, and get too caught up in the details. Good idea to put an image aside for a bit and comeback to it later to get a fresh look. (Not that I always remember to do that!

The light yellow around the pupil is the iris, not the sclera. The sclera is an opaque, often white layer of tissue that provides the bulk of the strength and structure of the eye, and is generally not visible in birds.

Randy

[William Dickson]

Very nice Brian....Fabulous frame...you did real good to get this close..Love the pose and the exposure looks spot on...Great detail on the bird with lovely colours throughout, Nice POV.

Great work.

Will

[Brian Sump]

Hi Brian, great view of the Harrier with its prey. I like the feather detail and the sharp detail around the head and face. I also like the colours of the BG. Well captured.

Stu, thank you for the critique and kind words sir!

Brian: Dramatic shot, well critiqued by the crew. I call it "processing blindness" when you work on an image enough that you lose the 'big picture' view, and get too caught up in the details. Good idea to put an image aside for a bit and comeback to it later to get a fresh look. (Not that I always remember to do that!

The light yellow around the pupil is the iris, not the sclera. The sclera is an opaque, often white layer of tissue that provides the bulk of the strength and structure of the eye, and is generally not visible in birds.

Randy

Randy, thank you for the clarification on the eye parts. And yeah, that's a great way to call it!

Very nice Brian....Fabulous frame...you did real good to get this close..Love the pose and the exposure looks spot on...Great detail on the bird with lovely colours throughout, Nice POV.

Great work.

Will

Will, very much appreciate your thoughts and kind words my friend!

[John Mack]

Good luck getting this close to one of these in my locale. I like the framing. Nice light as well. Of course the prey is another big plus. Nice and sharp with good detail.

[Arthur Morris]

Pretty great. You did not mention crop, as good as this is, if looser, even better details if you have it.
It must have been close, maybe a bit too close as the tip of the mouse tail not in focus unless it was blurred in PP.
Excellent field craft to get this close.

I am late to the party here. I echo all of the positives above and agree that this is a spectacular image. Dan, with all due respect, the slightly out of focus tail of the vole is not an issue. Going to a smaller aperture to sharpen the tail would have brought up a ton of unwanted background detail. Not all critiques need to include at least one negative ...

with love, artie