Todays eagle

[Ben Egbert]

The eagles are back at Lake Coeur d' Alene ID. Here is one I got this morning. One thing I have noticed, is that these eagles never face the sun, which I guess makes sense when looking for fish. They always face the lake, and find spots with the sun at their back or side. Of course when a photgrapher is around, they will look at him. Taken around 11:00 am. But we are far enough north that the sun is low. Still pretty bright.

1Ds-mk3, 500f4+1.4X at f8, ISO100, 1/500. I started at ISO400 and just kept moving down as he was patient. This one was best.

[James Salywoda]

Such a regal pose Ben very nicely captured well done. The bg looks a bit noisy and could use some reduction.

[arash_hazeghi]

Very beautiful look, perch is nice too. Would brighten the BG and run NR. TFS

[Betsie Storm]

I like the over-the-shoulder look and the feather detail. One eagle I would really, really like to see in nature. Thanks for sharing, Ben.

[Jim Crosswell]

Nice over the shoulder look and setting. Agree with the comment on NR in the BG.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Very striking pose and good exposure Ben. I agree with the above comments on NR. Many thanks for sharing.

[Ben Egbert]

Thanks all for comments. Strange I get noise at ISO100 with a 1DS-mk3. This one is fairly heavy crop (1197x867) and slightly underexposed hence the dark sky. I have two others (I bracketed this just like with landscapes). I have another brighter inage without any blown highlights, still the head feathers look best in the darker image which is why I choose this one.

I suspect the heavy crop and dark sky is the cause of noise. These birds roost high up so you have to get way back for a decent line.

Easy to fix. Here is a redo. I had to start over because I do NR as the first step. I handled the curves a bit differently and ended up with a cooler rendition than the original.