Mississippi River Bald Eagle

[Paul Hokanson]

Hello Everyone,

I took this image at L&D 14 last February.

50D
Aperture Priority
f8.0
ISO 800
+1/3
300 2.8
1/1600

Heavy crop down to around 5 MP.

I didn't have the Highlight Tone Priority feature turned on, so hopefully that will help this year. The head is really blown out and I think I will keep the compensation at 0 this year. Any thoughts on how to get detail in the head, without underexposing the body?

Thanks.

Paul

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Paul !!

Big Warm Welcome !!! Sweet capture !!

Regarding having detail in both the highlights and shadows can only think of two things ... one is you need to shoot is soft light, if the light is harsh you will blow one or block the other !! The other thing is metering, you need to go to manual in these cases since the bird will be on the same light but bg will be changing .. . changing your exposure !!!

As presented might crop just a little of the bottom !! btw this is one image worth working on and you might want to cone some white from around the side of the head to the top, the toughest part will the the right eye area but with trickery can be done :) Looking forward to the next one !!!!

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Paul,
A big warm welcome to the BPN family. I like your head on capture with the out stretched wings. The techs. have been covered and good advise given by Mr. Forns...looking forward to your next one...:cool:

[Lance Peters]

Hi Paul - a big warm welcome to the BPN family - nice first post.
AL has the techs covered - great advise.

You cant keep the compensation at 0 - Needs to be adjusted for each and every image depending on the subject/background/light conditions.

Looking forward to seeing more :)

[Paul Hokanson]

Thanks for the warm welcome and the great suggestions! I will try to incorporate the manual mode and check the highlights. I'm also trying to work on my PP skills.

Thanks again.

Paul

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Welcome - this is a nice one, I assume histogram shows clipping in head area. Always set exposure to protect highlights (white head). When shooting in stronger than soft light you will almost always need compensation, easy with AV. Once you set (blinkies) you will have additional help but camera LCD will show clipping too. Nice action shot, hope to see more from this area. I travel to Reel Foot Lake twice a year to photograph Eagles, it boarders the Mississippi as well. Currently (Feb), interesting article in "birder's WORLD" reviewing the top 24 locations to photograph Eagles is your spot on the list or close?

[Oscar Zangroniz]

Welcome Paul. Great first post and awesome action, great advice from the pro's.
Congrats.

[Paul Hokanson]

Jeff,

I'll have to get that edition of the magazine and check if any spots along the Mississippi are listed.

Yes, the histogram shows clipped highlights of the head, so I'll have to keep an eye on that.

Paul