Hawk eyes

[Garry Coldwells]

This hawk swooped directly over me and gave me several great images. I like the nictitating membrane showing, even though the clear eye shots also looked good.

Self critique - I need to read the "shrinking images" piece of the Educational Resources again. The image seems flatter after shrinking :(

oops, update with details:

Canon 50D and 400mm f5.6
1600th @6.3
ISO 400
Evaluative Metering

[Axel Hildebrandt]

The pose looks great but I would sharpen it more as it looks pretty soft on my monitor.

[Tony Whitehead]

Agree with Axle, this is a lovely pose but does look soft. Maybe more USM at low radius and higher amount as halos are already showing around the dark primaries. Not sure about the nictitating membrane look - it eliminates the intense eye contact which is so much a feature of raptors

[Garry Coldwells]

Tony,

Normally I agree with the clear eye for hawks as they do offer greater impact and engagement. Perhaps on reflection this is the better image then?

[Tony Whitehead]

I prefer the pose in the initial post, Garry but the intense eye in the repost is definitely more raptor-like.

[Garry Coldwells]

Thanks all for the comments.