From last month. A highly accessible, eye-level Osprey nest about an hour away from my home. I finally decided to go as I was not loving a very ugly "T-bar" bracing the side of the nest, but finally this year the nest it has grown large enough to cover that ugly metal pipe. It is also an afternoon shoot as the sunrises directly across the nest - so I went on a cloudy day to make it a morning affair (way too busy during the afternoon!). Turned out rainy for the first hour, but got some good stuff out of that as well I had the place to myself so I was able to manoeuvre side to side at will. I also brought a 6-foot stepladder to get higher and make the background fully green - else the far tree line top and subsequent sky above creeps in along the upper third of the frame - I knew that from other folk's images online and knew all it took was a few feet higher.
I could see this adult Osprey from afar and was super excited to see the large fish in its talons!. "This is gonna be so awesome!!". Well, turned out I was a piece of bark to line the nest with, complete with fake fish tail lol. Still neat though!
Canon R6 + 500mm f/4 II + 1.4TC III, manual exposure evaluative metering, 1/2000s., f/5.6, ISO 1600, natural light, handheld, tweaked the whites darker as they were near clipped, lifted some of the shadows under the wings, small crop to help the composition.
Your plan worked out really well! Ladder seems a great move as dappled BG is great; I agree the tree line running through the subject/wings would have been a major distraction/bummer. Processing looks spot on. Whites look good given the cloud. Love the action and the view of the talon. Really nice frame.
Great image Dan and nice open wings just as it prepares for a landing. That bark is huge and I think Dorian says it all especially the ladder. Just love the background. TFS
A creative display of your craft, to realize the challenge ahead of time and be prepared to capture a better background! I hope you didn't have to hike in to this spot, complete with your ladder!
The comp is really nice, nice pose as well.