Sharp-shinned Hawk

[Neil Losin]

Hi all,
I got lucky yesterday and had this sharpie blast in and try to grab something (and miss) right in front of my blind, then stick around for a few minutes. The bird was much too big for the frame at 700mm (I was set up for smaller birds), and I was terrified that I would rustle the bag blind and scare the bird as I removed my 1.4x TC. But I got the TC off without incident and managed a few shots :)

40D, 500/4
ISO 400, 1/160s at f/6.3
95% of full frame (slight crop for twig)

As always, all comments appreciated!

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Lucky you! Great soft light, details, head turn and BG. Maybe a slight increase in saturation and/or higher color temperature?

[Ramon M. Casares]

Light and detail are exceptional! Pose and head turn are great too, BG is to die for and the compo and perch are nice as wll, as you can see, I really like this one :) Congratulaitons!

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

What a stunning image. Love the excellent detail and the pose is superb with wonderful eye contact as well as a fabulous BG. Love everything about this image Neil. Just beautiful !!!

[Raymond Barlow]

killer shot Neil... a BIG CONGRATS!

[Robert O'Toole]

Agree with the previous, the pose and light are great. Warmer WB would look very good.

Also some NR on the BG would make the image even better.

Robert

[Doug Brown]

Nice one Neil! It really highlights the tail feathers of your Sharpie nicely.

[Glenn Bartley]

Very cool. I like the look-back pose.

[Mark Schmitt]

I would change very little: looks great. Perhaps one suggestion. I might go for a bit more dynamic range and contrast. Beautiful image. :-)