Haliaeetus leucocephalus in flight

[John Chardine]

I know it's a mouthful.

This was one of the better Bald Eagle in Flight images I made at Sheffield Mills, Nova Scotia this weekend.

In-camera framing was not optimal (but I didn't clip any primaries) so I made some canvas top and to the right. Cloned out a part of another bird from lower left. Darkened the pupil to improve eye look. Ran Linear Contrast in Curves, sharpened etc.

I'm glad people aren't tiring of this species. How could you after all? Hope you like it.

Canon EOS 50D, 500mm f4 x 1.4 tcII = 700mm
capture date: Saturday, 7 February, 2009 10:21 AM
exposure program: Aperture Priority
ISO speed: 400
shutter speed: 1/2000
aperture: f6.3
exposure bias: +0.3
metering: Pattern
flash: OFF - Compulsory flash mode

[Ramon M. Casares]

STUNNNIG pose, great exposure control, superb comp and detail, love the atitude and colors, love it all! Big congratulaitons! Terrific shot!

[Adams Serra]

Hi John,
Beautiful bird, nice light, head angle and amazing BG.

Adams

[Bob Blanchard]

Lovely capture and well exposed. You could easily add canvas to this one to improve the framing.

ETA - Nevermind - I wasn't viewing in full frame! Sorry!

Perfect as-is.

[Steve Maxson]

Very cool, John. Love the pose and the head turn. Nice light and the bird seems to jump out from the background.

[denise ippolito]

John, Excellent capture ! HA and pose are great -lovely BG- Big Congratulations!

[Lyall Bouchard]

John,

Excellent pose and exposure, a very powerful image. There is a mis-alignment of some sort on the top of his left shoulder, directly up from the tip of his beak.

[John Chardine]

It's there in the original image Lyall. Must be a crease in the plumage, maybe from the head turn.

[Bob Malbon]

John, I am unhappy that I missed your event! Next year give us a heads up on the date.
This is one of the best BE captures I have seen posted! Bob

[Steve Canuel]

Excellent image John. I especially like the underwing detail. Color, clarity, and sharpness are very nice as well.

[Mike Lentz]

I can't really add anything to whats been stated, nice job!

[Ken Watkins]

I an only add one thing to everything that has been said, what is he carrying in his claw?

[John Chardine]

Many thanks for all the encouraging comments.

Ken- The thing you see being carried is in fact one of the talons- the hind one I think. They ball their feet up when they fly and the talons on the other foot are hidden.

One point about the lighting- it almost looks like I used flash to fill the underwing. In fact this is simply the refection of the strong sun off the snow below. This is one of the upsides to the otherwise downside of photographing high-contrast birds in bright sun and snow, which is a difficult combination to manage.

And finally to Lyall's mis-alignment query- take a look at the attached. Turns out it was this ruff of feathers that eagles have. I didn't realise this either until you mentioned it.

[Juan Aragonés]

John I see why you are so proud about this image. It is fantastic: light, exposure, pose, action. Superb job and big congratulations for this terrific image!

[John Chardine]

John, I am unhappy that I missed your event! Next year give us a heads up on the date.
This is one of the best BE captures I have seen posted! Bob

That would be great Bob. I'll definitely be there next year. In the meantime here's the web page for the Eagle Watch:

http://www.eaglens.ca/

Having said that, it turns out the birds get fed most days in the winter so anytime is good.