You had captured some excellent action here Joe. Great to see all the ripped? feathers under the fighting pair. I find that while the tightness seems to work sufficiently, I would like a slightly wider view. I think you could do a little post processing on the bird which is facing away as the whites near the tail appear very bright, perhaps too bright. :)
Ecellent critique above by Akos and an excellent capture as noted. You did fairly well with the off-angled (from your left) light. Lightening the face just a bit (especially the shadowed area just above the eye) and darkening the pupil would increase the apparent sharpness.
Where was the image made? What type of blind were you in? Did you set up on the duck carcass? Were you restricted to the road?
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Nice action shot with good detail. The white is distracting, as mentioned, and I wish the wings were not clipped. Are the hawks baited in front of the blind?
Thanks all for the comments. I will work on the white areas, the shadows, and the eye as recommended. Artie, we did set up on the duck carcass (natural, not baited). The shot was taken off a dike on a fresh water inlet to the Great Salt Lake. I used a portable blind. When we first set up the light was pretty much behind us, but as the day progressed the sun did it's thing and moved. Soon after this shot we moved to another spot with the sun behind us again, (about a half mile walk to a parallel dike). During the transistion the birds moved the duck and we were unable to get back on it.
Joe - Thanks for describing your efforts to get this photograph. I very much enjoy learning from other nature photogs how they go about getting their shots. Your patience and efforts paid off!
Harrier Combat
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