Eagle + nesting material 2
50D, 500 f/4L, ISO 400, spot metering, manual mode, f/4, 1/800", tripipod, early morning, about 65% of the original image.
This is another image from this past weekend and both adult Eagles were active for part of the morning gathering branches and "soft" material for their nest. The Eagle flew straight at me after leaving the second tree it landed in and finally headed to the nest with it's offering.
Eye contact is great, nice detail under the wings, the large cargo shows the power of this bird!
The background is a bit distracting, but that's the natural habitat. Looks like the AF did its job very well in spite of the challenges. It's a bit warm on my monitor, but looks like it suits the time of day- late afternoon/evening?
Thanks for posting!
Colin
Thank you Colin. This was just as the sun came up over some trees. I shoot with auto WB and in my RAW conversion I cooled it down a lot.
The bg is what it is....it's funny though...some say a bird against the sky is boring and then you get something like this that's too busy or distracting according to some.
What would have made the bg more pleasing? More blur or nothing at all? This was shot wide open.
I thought it would be early or late, just because of the sun angle.
Don't take the comment on the background for more than it is- just my opinion. You'll get many more better opinions here soon I'm sure. But yes, more blur would have been great. Since you were wide open I guess that only could have been achieved with more distance from the subject to the tree. You could do it in PP if you felt the need.
Once again, I like it a lot!
Colin
Hi Duane: Very nice flight and action shot and unique as well. I agree with Colin that the cargo load is impressive and it makes you think about how massive these birds are. Also you did a nice job of capturing the face head on which can be very tough for autofocusing cameras (of course much worse if trying to manual focus). Overall, the composition has a 3D look to me which I really like and I don't have a problem with the background but I rarely do. Good job.
I appreciate your input and I didn't take your comment about the BG any other way then constructive critism. I actually like to hear what others would do to an image if it were theirs. I did run a slight surface blur on each color channel after isolating the Eagle and cargo from the bg (my way of removing noise from an image).Originally Posted by clknight
I bought the 500 f/4L to get closer.....now I need to back up...haha. It sure is fun though trying to get the perfect image. ;)
Thank you again for your thoughts. :)
Nice incoming pose and quite a load. I would tone down the legs and find the blue in the BG a bit distracting.
Hey Duane--First off this is a very different and most powerful shot of a BE. Most things have been mentioned so I won't repeat, and I agree that if you could do something with the background you would augment the power here ten fold. I would suggest toning down the blue sky for one, and then the green tree. Blurring would be next. The shot is worth the trouble I feel and you must get this bird separated from the rest of the things that are going on here if you want it to be all it can be.
Paul
That's a motivational message, Paul. Now Duane, post the edit if you decide to give it a shot. Like Paul said, it's worth the work.
I was wondering what a slight blur and darkening of the background would do. It didn't do a whole lot actually. Hope you don't mind a quick retouch:
Colin
Last edited by Colin Knight; 11-10-2009 at 08:51 PM.
o ho, look like he is coming for battle, great pose indeed congrats..
Here is a rework following the suggestions given which is much appreciated. I toned down the talons and desaturated the blues. I also did some slight bluring of the bg along with several burn layers.
This repost looks better to my eye. Impressive bird and what a load!
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