Red-tailed Hawk

[Mike Veltri]

Okay I have now read the guide lines and am ready for some constructive critiques. :p

I photographed this adult Red-tail at the end of the day as the sun was about to set. Side lit as you can see by the catch light in the eye, and shadow across the foot. I thought the pose with him/her balanced on one foot was nice.



Canon 1D MarkIII
Canon 500mm F/4 IS
Canon 2x extender for 1000mm
Manual Mode
Spot metering
1/250s
F/11
ISO 400

Thanks for looking :)

Mike Veltri

[John Blumenkamp]

Hi Mike... this is really nice. I like the soft quality of light, and that you've placed the hawk slightly off-center in your composition. Great background and perch, and I agree the pose on one foot is nice... gives the image a unique element. Very nice.

[david cramer]

A wonderful pose and good detail with a great bg. Image could use a bit more contrast and saturation, and I'd remove the slight blue coloring in the shaded side of the bird.

[Joel Eade]

I agree with the above, also would try to perhaps sharpen the bird a little and noise reduction on background. This is very nice shot, certainly worth the effort. Congrats!

[Harshad Barve]

Excellent compo and nice lighting ,
TFS

[Danny J Brown]

Beautiful shot Mike -- I love the one foot pose as well. I think David's recommendation would make this one pop a little more without ruining the mood. Sweet image.

[Fabs Forns]

Very lovely pose and detail. I would selectively sharpen the face. Stunning BG that complements the bird's colors.

[Steve Maxson]

Beautiful image, Mike. Love the pose and the background. The very subtle side-lighting works well here. There are some good suggestions above that may make this excellent image even stronger.

[Randy Stout]

Mike:

Very nice as mentioned. Excellent and interesting pose, effective side lighting.
I can see a bit more contrast as mentioned by David, but not much, don't want to lose that soft feel.

Cheers

Randy

[Danny Laredo]

Nice image Mike, with a good pose detail perch and BG.
Agree on adding a bit of contrast and saturation. I also think the head could be lighten up a bit to bring out more detail.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the one foot pose as well. With a few adjustments that were mentioned will really add to quality of this image!

[Dave Leroy]

Lovely job with the soft lighting. Pose and perch are definitley a nice catch as well. It is always interesting to see how different people handle the whites. Looking forward to more. Dave

[Daniel Cadieux]

Awesome pose, comp, and BG...did you blur it? I seem to detect some artefacts around the perch, and a bit around the bird too. I agree with eliminating the blue cast caused by the shade...selectively desaturating the blue and cyan channels will nicely take care of that. Good work Mike!

[Clement Francis]

It doesnot get better than this Mike. A very perfect Raptor shot in every way

[Gerrie van Vuuren]

Great light & composition. Well exposed with good detail, colours & BG. Well done.

[James Salywoda]

I love the mood captured Mike this is an excellent shot nice soft colors in the bg well done.