Red Tail Flight

[Malcolm Benn]

This is a captive Red Tail Hawk. I'm not sure if the background is a bit much and if I should crop it more?
The shot was taken today at about 9:30AM near Simcoe Ontario, part of a raptor flight workshop with Ray Barlow. The camera used was a Canon 50D with a 300mm f2.8 lense, aperture priority at f2.8, 1/4000 sec, ISO400, evaluative metering at -2/3, AI Servo AF, auto W/B and hand held.

[Trey Barron]

Nice pose and eye contact. I think I I might try and tone down the BG to get the bird to stand out more.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I don't mind the BG too much, but I would crop more from bottom and right as I feel the comp would be better balanced for your flying subject. Has noise reduction been applied to this image? It has the "smooth" look of it.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Good suggestions from Daniel. Great timing and good detail and flight pose. Like this one a lot Malcolm and many thanks for sharing.

[Raymond Barlow]

excellent shot Malcolm, it was great to have you out for another workshop, looks like that new 300 2.8 is a great fit.

[Malcolm Benn]

Nice pose and eye contact. I think I I might try and tone down the BG to get the bird to stand out more.

Thanks Trey. I'm not sure how to tone down the background, I assume that's a layers technique in Photoshop .. something I need to learn. :)

[Malcolm Benn]

I don't mind the BG too much, but I would crop more from bottom and right as I feel the comp would be better balanced for your flying subject. Has noise reduction been applied to this image? It has the "smooth" look of it.

Thanks Daniel. I'll try a recrop and see what it looks like. Yes I did apply noise reduction in Photoshop Elements. Did I apply too much .. is smooth a bad thing?

Here's a recrop, is this what you were thinking of?

[Malcolm Benn]

Good suggestions from Daniel. Great timing and good detail and flight pose. Like this one a lot Malcolm and many thanks for sharing.

Thanks Judy, I think I got lucky with this shot. :D

[Malcolm Benn]

excellent shot Malcolm, it was great to have you out for another workshop, looks like that new 300 2.8 is a great fit.

Thanks Ray. It was a great workshop and lots to learn. I have no complaints about the 300 2.8 but it's a good thing it can't talk because it might have a few things to say about operator error. :D

[Doug Brown]

Love the topside view. I prefer the repost, which really emphasizes the bird.

[Malcolm Benn]

Love the topside view. I prefer the repost, which really emphasizes the bird.

Thanks Doug, I have to admit the repost is growing on me ... it always a question of how much to crop or rather how much is too much. :D