Bald Eagle

[Jason G. Harrison]

I spent many days this past winter at this location when hundreds of Eagles came in and used this area for their fishing grounds. On this particular day, the temp did not rise above 0 degrees F. A friend and myself were there from sun up to sun down. This particular Eagle was iceberg hopping. It would fish, then land on a berg and float down stream. Once done, it would fly back up and do it again. In this image, there is no fish, just the Eagle.

At first glance I wished I had better eye contact. However, the more I look at it, the more I like this pose. Its almost as if this most magnificent symbol of our great nation, bowed its head with its wings outstretched to acknowledge us humbly taking its image. That is how I like to think anyway.

Taken with a D300, 600VR, 1.4tc, 850mm, ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/4000th SS, -.7EV. Full frame:



Hope you enjoy.

Jason

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Lovely. I like the outstretched wings. On first glance I thought better eye contact and lower angle would have been great. However, I understand your feelings. I am sure it would have been amazing watching these great creations of nature. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

PS: There is a small typo. 600mm and 1.4x should be 840mm.

[Juan Aragonés]

Jason in my opinion the bird is a bit tight in the left side of the frame. I do not mind about the eye contact in this case and I like a lot the fantastic wing spreading. Light angle is not the best and I wish the face were not ion the shadows. Keep them coming :-)

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Agreed about tight left side and light direction, yet there is an awe I feel just by looking at this image. :) Congrats!

[Randy Stout]

Jason:

Nicely captured. Agree with Juan about the techs, and it would be very easy to add a bit of canvas to the left, and I might try a version with a little more below as well. The shadows on the face could be eased a bit with the dodge tool, and still look natural, if your ethics allow a bit of tinkering.

When evaluating an image, the 1st think I look for is impact, then later look at the techs. This one scores well in the all important 'impact' category for me.

Hope to see more. Was this along the Mississippi?

Randy

[Jason G. Harrison]

Lovely. I like the outstretched wings. On first glance I thought better eye contact and lower angle would have been great. However, I understand your feelings. I am sure it would have been amazing watching these great creations of nature. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

PS: There is a small typo. 600mm and 1.4x should be 840mm.

Thanks for the reply. At this location there is no chance at getting lower to the river due to the bank's configuration, as I too would have loved a water level shot of this! As to the 850mm part, I agree with the math, but I always just put what the exif states so as to not create any more confusion than necessary.

Jason

[Jason G. Harrison]

Jason in my opinion the bird is a bit tight in the left side of the frame. I do not mind about the eye contact in this case and I like a lot the fantastic wing spreading. Light angle is not the best and I wish the face were not ion the shadows. Keep them coming :-)

Thank you Juan. I agree on all the points you raised. Don't worry, I have tons of images to share!:D

Jason

[Jason G. Harrison]

Agreed about tight left side and light direction, yet there is an awe I feel just by looking at this image. :) Congrats!

Thanks Akos. Being full frame I did not want to mess with the image as far as adding Canvas. HOwever, since its being pointed out alot so far in this thread, I am open to trying it and seeing the result. I am no pro at PS and also I try not to alter an image that I took. My standards are relaxing some on that to create a better image but I never want to represent something that was not.

Jason

[Jason G. Harrison]

Jason:

Nicely captured. Agree with Juan about the techs, and it would be very easy to add a bit of canvas to the left, and I might try a version with a little more below as well. The shadows on the face could be eased a bit with the dodge tool, and still look natural, if your ethics allow a bit of tinkering.

When evaluating an image, the 1st think I look for is impact, then later look at the techs. This one scores well in the all important 'impact' category for me.

Hope to see more. Was this along the Mississippi?

Randy

Thanks for the reply Randy. My ethics will allow for a bit of tinkering as long as the image still portrays what I saw. Indeed this was taken along the mighty Mississippi, below one of the numerous Lock and Dams.

Jason

[Randy Stout]

Jason:

I know the Lock & Dam 19 is a popular spot. I am originally from Iowa, and will have to stop there during the winter on my way back to Iowa.

What time of the winter do you find best for eagle activity there?

Randy

[Jason G. Harrison]

Jason:

I know the Lock & Dam 19 is a popular spot. I am originally from Iowa, and will have to stop there during the winter on my way back to Iowa.

What time of the winter do you find best for eagle activity there?

Randy

Randy,

#19 is indeed popular and I think this coming season it will be even more so due to all the discussion images posted from there this past season.

I did FAR better much further south, here in Missouri. Lock and Dam #24 at Clarksville held more Eagles this year than any other that I know of. I live just about 20 miles from there too.:) I shot with the staff photographer for our Conservation Department for several days in a row there from mid January to early Feb. For a few days, the Conservation Department did an Eagle count due to the extreme numbers we had there. One morning, there were over 600 Eagles in the air, with many more roosting in the trees below the Locks. Needless to say that was a sight to behold.

Timing varies each year. We get out best Eagle days when Iowa in extreme cold. L&D #24 is special too, in that there is a small park right below the Lock, which is on the Lock side, and thus it stays more open in extreme cold weather. This of course is great as it allows the Eagles the chance to fish the open water, which just happens to be right in front of this little park.

A group of us pay close attention to all the L&D's from St. Louis Missouri to the north. Each year a trip takes place were this group goes north to the various Dams looking for better chances at getting Eagle shots. We hope to do that again this year and time it just right for extreme cold. If you need further details about places, etc...feel free to email me or PM and I can discuss this further.

Jason

[Randy Stout]

Jason:

Thanks for all the info. Sounds like you will have lots more good opportunities!
Since I live a long way from Alaska, I will have to look into the Mississippi!

Cheers

Randy

[Daniel Belasco]

That many Egales must be a sight to behold,
I'll have to put that on my bucket-list!
Agree with the comments above and understand your reasoning and responses and I'm just enjoying the view!!
dan