Unexpected Eagle causes elevated heart rate

[Jim Poor]

I was out at one of my local photography areas, Dyke Marsh in Alexandria, VA on a very slow day. The Osprey weren't in evidence and there were only some ducks that were hard to get to with good light.

I was walking the shore watching a bunch of ducks when suddenly they all spooked and took off. I thought"

Huh? Oh PREDETOR! Eagle? Osprey? No, the Osprey are always here and the ducks ignore them, gotta be Eagle! Where where where???? Oh Crap, I'm gonna miss them (as I look up and see two coming right at me)! Come on lens, focus FOCUS NOW! Click click click click. 17 Frames later and my first ever decent Bald Eagle images.

Two nice mature adults did a flyby and got close enough that I could no longer focus on them. It was all said and done so fast that I still had time to get shots of the Mallards in their panic after the Eagles were long gone. I was happy.

DISCLAIMER: No ducks were harmed in the making of this image. I couldn't be that lucky twice in one day ;)



D2X ISO 100
600/f4
1/1000 @ f5

For the life of me, I can't completely get rid of the sharpening halo :( I should probably see if I can get some detail out of the far wing too, now that I look at it again.

[Fabs Forns]

Hey jim,

Congratulations on a getting a decent Eagle. I'm still not there :(

To shapen what you do is select the sky with the magic wand, invert the selection, the Select>Modify>Contract by ONE pixel, and sharpen. If you want to do selective sharpening like just the head, make a new layer out of your contracted selection, sharpen, then create a layer mask (layers palette bottom, third box from left) and use the brush with black as the background color to "erase" the effect where you don't wan it.

I downloaded the Eagle and did the same with Shadow/Highlight, playing with the midtone contrast at the same time. Here's the result, but I couldn't get the halo that was there out.
Hope you like it:

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great find and nicely done. I agree that it needs a bit S/H. Those tail feathers look pretty messy. :)

[Jim Poor]

Thanks Fabs. I had forgotten about contracting the selection:o No wonder I couldn't get it to go away. I'll have to go back to the original and start over.

Hopefully I can get some that are good instead of just decent soon.

:D

[Bill McCrystyn]

Mean machine on the move. I like your framing and I'm not sure you could get better DOF @ f/5 with the wingspan these guys have. Usually sharpening halos come from too much sharpening. When you reach that point, simply back off a little, your done. Sometimes sharpening your subject on a seperate layer helps also. As far as sky noise goes I use Median noise reduction in CS3 with radius adjustment. Another alternative is good old Pantone 652c +- contrast from the color palette as a seperate layer for the sky. I'm sure these guys will say if I'm right or wrong but those were my thoughts. I't a great image and the kind of experience we all live for. Happy hunting -

[Bill McCrystyn]

See - I didn't even know about contracting the selection. THANKS FABS. Ahh, another tool in the old arsenal.

[hugh robateau]

Nice shot, Jim! Wish I had one with that nice blue sky.

[Jim Poor]

Wow, we must have all been cross posting at once :D

Axel, I was thinking about those tail feathers too. Glad I'm not the one who has to clean and preen them with my mouth :O

Bill,

One thing I've only barely touched is NR of any type. I'll have to try it out. As for Pantone 652c, are you talking about replacing the sky completely or putting it on a layer and playing opacity?

Thanks Hugh.

[Jeff Nadler]

Fabs example of using S/H, shows a frequent undesired result I get from the tool-excessive noise. Note the noise in the lower wing. I wish there was a way of avoiding this. I have applied noise reduction to such wings but then they look out of focus and lacking detail.

[Fabs Forns]

Fabs example of using S/H, shows a frequent undesired result I get from the tool-excessive noise. Note the noise in the lower wing. I wish there was a way of avoiding this. I have applied noise reduction to such wings but then they look out of focus and lacking detail.

I am sure working in the big TIFF would yield better results than working in a compressed jpeg. Still, PS would need to work on the S/H tool a little longer :)

[Bill McCrystyn]

Jim I will isolate a sky or BG with the wand and then run FILTER - NOISE - MEDIAN. I like this one because it allows you to control radius and therefore how much is applied, or if you will, to what degree. This, by the way, is completly differant than "color noise" reduction. As for Pantone I am talking about replacing the sky altogether either by wand and/or layer depending on the frame and then I use contrast and brightness on the isolated sky area to adjust the tone. Works for me. These guys may have better ways, I don't know.

[Jim Poor]

Thanks again. I'll have to take a break from PowerPoint (my day job at the moment) and try in out.

[Gary Dumer]

Great Capture Jim on a tough Exposure bird

[Kenn Christensen]

congrats on getting your first good eagle shot!.. they are tough to obtain in a lot of places.. even around here Im surrounded with them but they mostly have a proclivity for avoiding the camera.. if Im out on a walk they will hover right over me.. bring out the big gun and I can see them easy.. a mile or so away...

[Del Cockroft]

Some people have all the luck!! Great capture, Jim. I note the expert advice given as I'm sure it will come in handy.

[Robert O'Toole]

Jim,

Great image I like everything about it the way it is (minus the halos of course).

There is a 100% surefire way to avoid halos. Leave the sharpening out of the workflow and at the end use it selectively with a mask. Works everytime.

Robert