Northern Harrier at Sunset

[Joerg Rockenberger]

Photographed yesterday in Half Moon Bay, CA. Required selective sharpening of the bird and gaussian blurring of the background to reduce noise in PSE 6. Hope you like it. Thanks in advance. JR

Canon 40D, 500F4IS, Canon 1.4TC, 1/1000, F5.6, ISO 800, Manual Exposure, Gitzo & Mongoose 3.5a

[Harold Davis]

sweet light, john! love the glowing eye. the bg is complimentary of the bird. i might run another dose of NR on it.

[Kris Mortensen]

Thats some 'butter light'! Great shot...love that the whole image is similar in color, it draws you right to the eye.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Amazing light. Good pose overall, although having the wings straight up would have been even better. I agree on some NR to the BG, and you could crop a bit below - to just above the greenish clump at center bottom. Good-looking eye, and I like the grassy habitat.

[Harshad Barve]

fabulous light , pose , eyes and BG
TFS

[Danny Laredo]

Sweet image John. Love the light and eye contact.

[Stu Bowie]

John, great eye contact, and love the light and colours. I agree with Dan's suggestion regarding the crop, and a another round of NR on the BG will work.

[denise ippolito]

John, Beautiful image and fantastic lighting! I love the warm fall colors and the head turn. Agree w/ NR. Well done.

[Bob Malbon]

John, Just wonderful with that eye contact! Bob

[Joerg Rockenberger]

Thank you all for your comments! Much appreciated. JR

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Won't mention NR as pretty much everyone did. I like Daniel's suggestion for crop, but it's still fine as is for me. Super light and eye contact! Congrats big time! :)

[arash_hazeghi]

Beautiful eye contact and excellent BG John. You got some nice light there!!! Only wish the wings were in full down position! Defiantly a keeper.

[Joerg Rockenberger]

Thanks Akos and Arash. Best, JR

[Chris van Rooyen]

Light is unbelievably sweet, and the HA just perfect. The eye is striking. Love it as it is - well done!