White-tailed Eagle

[Jan Wegener]

right before chasing down. Taken a while back from a boat in Poland.

I added the wing tip of the right wing. (the bird's right wing)

1D mark IIn
500/4 IS
handheld
1/1600 @ F5 Iso 200 manual Mode
For flight images like these, especially when the bird goes down and different colored BKGRs appear, manual mode is the only save way for getting properly exposed images.

[Fabs Forns]

Terrific pose, Jan, and you are correct in you statement about manual EXP and BG.
I used Nik Color Efex Complete's Reflector Effects to illuminate the under wings a bit, masking the face. Hope you like it. I use it a lot instead of flash.

[Tony Whitehead]

Love the upcurved primaries but especially the eye contact, Jan. Agree on the choice of manual exposure but feel a little more exposure at capture may have been ideal to maximise detail under the wings. How did you meter to establish your manual exposure settings? Fab's reflector suggestion is a useful trick. Selecting and darkening down the sky may also be worth trying.

[Kiran Khanzode]

I love the eye contact and the head-on collision path trajectory.

[Stu Bowie]

Great looking eagle, and I like the angle and full wingspread. I agree, trying to use a + EC will expose underwing detail in camera, rather than trying to recover in pp work. Over time you get to know which birds need more EC than others.

[Harshad Barve]

lovely pose , position in frame and talons with great wing pose
repost looks better
TFS

[Jan Wegener]

thanks you, your were right I didn't pay enough attention while processing the image. Here's a different version.

Think this one is better. I like Fabs repost, but find it a tad too aggressive. The original has enough detail in all parts, it's just tricky to maintain in in those small web images.

[arash_hazeghi]

Excellent action and detail, love the eye contact and strong flight posture.

[Tony Whitehead]

Good job on the repost, Jan. Big step up.