fresh Starling sure tastes good

[John Chardine]

In a previous post I promised a head portrait of this Sharp-shinned Hawk eating a Starling. Here it is, made with the 50D. If you look closely you can see some strands of Sharpie spit in its mouth! Yum! Also it looks like two dried "dribbles" under the chin, maybe from previous kills (hawk specialists- have you seen this before?).

I heavily cropped to only about 14% of original image area (this is where the 50D comes into its own), cleaned up the bill a little, blurred and ran some NR on the BG, then sharpened.

Hope you like it.

Canon EOS 50D, 500mm f4
capture date: Monday, 9 February, 2009 105 AM
exposure program: Manual
ISO speed: 400
shutter speed: 1/2000
aperture: f7.1
exposure bias: +0.0
metering: Pattern
flash: OFF

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Wow John it is a real treat to see this raptor up so close. Such an incredible face and eyes. Thanks for sharing this with us.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

The details look great despite the heavy crop. I also like the shadows of the eyelashes. Thanks for sharing!

[Ron van Rossum]

14% of the original? There's an amazing amount of detail left...
I've got to push my 50D a little more I guess..
Thanks for sharing,John ;)

[Ramon M. Casares]

I wouldn't have croped so much, but for web use, it looks terrific! Big congratulaitons!

[Lance Peters]

Amazing action - pretty much nailed it I would say. :)