Juvenile red-tailed hawk

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

I came across this extremely cooperative juvenile (note the gorgeous light colored eye) red-tailed hawk yesterday. He gave me some really nice poses. I will post another one tomorrow.

40d; 300 f/4 L non-IS; 1.4x; 1/250; f/10; handheld. no flash. iso 320. mid-morning sun. pulled down the highlights a bit in DPP

Would you have used a fill flash? I did not because I did not want him to fly away and waste a good opportunity. Its not every day that I can get to within 20 feet of a red-tailed hawk.

All critiques welcome and appreciated.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I would have used fill flash, but probably not that necessary. It would have thrown some light into the shadows though. I try some security images first, then turn the flash on and whamo! :)

Nice pose and any close-up of a raptor is OK in my books mate. :)

[Paul Kusmin]

Fill flash would have helped but you are right that it might have scared it off.
I don't mind the shadow too much, it's an interesting shape anyways.
Touch more sharpening perhaps?

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Thanks for the comments. I should try some sharpening. He was moving his head and upper body both a lot...looking for a mouse or something I guess. In hindsight, I shud have bumped the ISO a bit and got a higher shutter speed to freeze him. I had the camera set at f/10 because I did not want the wing edge to be blurred. plus i had it over exposed a bit in camera to expose the underside properly.

a lot to learn.....mostly the changes that need to be done from shot to shot.

[Colin Morey]

It looks like the white on the wing has clipped and has almost a 'glow' to it, do you think there's any way you could tone it down slightly? I like the line of the shadow, almost as if he's wearing a collar.

[Mital Patel]

kaustubh this is a fantastic image you have captured and playing with some sharpness and tonal contrast would have made this more interesting to me.

please share your views.

[Daniel Cadieux]

The original indeed needed sharpening, as the repost by Mital shows. I'm finding the shadow line across the neck distracting - perhaps some flash would have helped...but more than just fill. You may be able to negate some of the shadow with the s/h tool - but be careful not to overdo it. Nice to have cooperative raptors...not something that has happened to me too often!!

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Thanks for the comments everyone.

Mital...your post gives me a good direction. I find it a little oversharpened for my tastes..esp. the eye area....but u showed me what to do. I like the increase in contrast that you did. Thanks a lot.

[Fabs Forns]

Very nice eye contact and pose. I like the increase in midtones by Mital, over sharpened as noted. You could darken the face a little more.

[Arthur Morris]

Lots of good stuff above. Despite the sun from the hard right, I like it. With the sun so bright, it is most unlikely that the bird would have been bothered by the flash. You could not eliminate the shadow with flash no matter the setting, but using lots of flash, say about zero or zero or plus one, would have reduced the shadow. I love the pose. As for contrast ans SAT something between the two posts would have been ideal.