Bald Eagle flying portrait

[John Chardine]

I am on a rapid learning curve with my new 1D mark IV. Tried it out today for a brief time with the Bald Eagles at Sheffield Mills, Nova Scotia. The birds are fed dead chickens from local farms every day from November to February inclusive. I only had a short time with the birds today and managed this image. I clipped the lower wing so decided to crop the top one for a portrait. I love the detail you get in the faces of these birds, and because they have such long wings, this detail is often lost or diminished if you show the whole bird (so I personally like crops like this). Let me know what you think! BTW the white spots are snow flakes!

Cropped, adjusted contrast in Curves, sharpened.

Canon EOS-1D Mark IV, 500/4 x 1.4 tc = 700mm
capture date: 7 February 2010, 11:34 AM
exposure program: Manual
ISO speed: 800
shutter speed: 1/1600
aperture: f6.3
exposure bias: +0.0
metering: Pattern
flash: off

[Harold Davis]

the square crop is nice to me!! love the snow flakes. adds another element that boosts the feel and mood even more. detail looks great. are the tail feathers usually that red?

[John Chardine]

Hi Harold, Thanks. Many of the birds show this red staining at Sheffield Mills. The location is not that far from the Bay of Fundy and there are local flats of red mud so I think the birds are picking it up there.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Really nice John, I am a fan of these types of crops. Great detail and exposure. You even have separation between the beak and the wing. Where did you buy the camera, B and H???

[John Chardine]

Hi Jackie- Thanks! I was on a waiting list with a dealer in Toronto. I have done quite a bit of business with them and friends have as well, so reminded my sales person of this when I ordered. She looked after me and called a couple of weeks later saying she had one for me but that I couldn't say where it came from because they are all supposed to go to CPS members, which I'm not. Not sure if this is a load of BS but I will not disclose for a while. I did hear that the same week, Vistek and Camera Canada had a few.

[Lance Peters]

Hi John - Awesome - love the fine details and the in your face composition works just fine for me.
Nailed the exposure and love those snow drops.
This rocks!!

[arash_hazeghi]

Very nice John, love the details and close up, you did well with exposure. There is a little bit of noise/grain in dark feathers which should be easy to clean up.

[Peter Farrell]

I like this as posted. Excellent detail on the head to tail.

[Mark Young]

G'day John,

Love the composition of this photo, especially the way the face is emphasised.

[Oscar Zangroniz]

The composition and the sharpness are incredible.
Big time congrats.