Eagle launch

[David Gancarz]

We were able to drive progressively closer to this eagle at Shiloh Marsh Road, Merritt Island NWR. Shot taken about 10-15 m away from truck window. Handheld with Nikon D300, 70-300 VR @ 195mm, 1/1600s f/5.6. Cropped ~10% of height, sky color corrected in LR. Any and all constructive criticism most welcome!

[Art Kornienko]

Quite nice wing position but would like to see a bit more room at top and bottom and find the branches distracting.

[Mike Tracy]

Wish for more room on the left and a tad on the bottom. I don't find the branches too distracting as it anchors the composition of the eagle leaving his perch. Nicely done on the sky with good exposure and sharpness.

Welcome to BPN.

[Robert Amoruso]

David,

Good first post and welcome to the forum. I think Mike sums up my feelings very well.

[Yan Chen]

Very very nice!!

[Linda Robbins]

Welcome to BPN, and what a nice first post. Great job capturing the launch and good exposure control. Your sky color correction looks good. It would be nice to have more room on the left side for the eagle to "fly into". Looking forward to more of your posts.

[David Gancarz]

Agreed that there should be more room on left for eagle to fly into. Unfortunately that is the left edge of the of the uncropped frame. I suppose I could clone some add'l sky, but then, many new photo opportunities await! We're headed to Viera and MINWR this weekend. Thanks for your comments. I'm happy to have found this forum.

[john crookes]

Above comments are good I would also recommend posting up to the limit to show more detail as you are not taking up much room here.

I also noticed a slight cast and another round of selective sharpening could help

i opened and did a cast removal and a little bit of sharpening

[David Gancarz]

Thanks John. Point taken about resolution. I posted with jpeg at no compression. 90% compression should drop the size considerably, especially with the expanse of blue sky in the image. Next time...

Thank you for the time you took to consider this image. Much appreciated. 'Till next time ...

[David Gancarz]

Thanks all for your suggestions. I've modified the image as shown with more room for the bird to fly into, some additional branch from which to take off (plus some tree trimming), minor color corrections, and add'l sharpening around head and feet. It is much improved.