Red-Tail Hawk

[Michael Bowland]

I found this beautiful hawk on the side of the road in Illinois. :cool:
Please feel free to give comments as well as critiques, I am very eager to learn and look forward to learning from all the wonderful people on this site!
Currently using a Canon Rebel XT, 400mm 5.6L, Aperture Priority, 1/2000, 5.6, 200 ISO, -2/3 exposure compensation

[Lana Hays]

Welcome, Mike
What a wonderful find along the road.....and nice of him to pose for you as well. You have a nice pose and BG with this one. Has this been cropped much? It doesn't seen sharp so possibly some PS would help. I imagine you shot/cropped it so as to lessen the appearance of the orange perch. I think I'd have included some room at the bottom for his "virtual tail". Overall you have a lot going with this image. I think that some PS work could improve it like selectively sharpening the bird and removing a little noise from the BG. You also might try a higher ISO to give you more shutterspeed and DOF. Anyway that you can increase the shutter speed and perhaps add stability by shooting on a beanbag will greatly increase the sharpness and quality of the image.

[Michael Bowland]

Good Morning Lana,

Thank you so much for your input, your right I did crop it trying to limit the orange perch as well as make it fit the upload requirements. I will start again from the original and try your suggestions.

[D. Robert Franz]

I really like the intense stare of this fine subject. Image looks a bit dark on my monitor. You could lighten it a bit in post processing.. You've also cropped in a bit to tight on the hawk, more room all around would help. For simple comps like this with the bird looking directly at you placing th bird along the central axis of the frame works very well...

[Michael Bowland]

Thank you for the feedback D. Robert, I will give it a try.

[Jim Neiger]

Hi Michael,

Lana and Dale have given you great advice. I think the image appears a little soft too, but at 1/2000 you should have had plenty of shutter speed. Perhaps just some more USM on the bird is all you need to make it appear sharp.

[Michael Bowland]

Jim,

Can you explain what you mean by your comment on more USM???

Hi Michael,

Perhaps just some more USM on the bird is all you need to make it appear sharp.

[Lana Hays]

Jim,

Can you explain what you mean by your comment on more USM???

Michael
USM stands for "Unsharp Mask" and is one of the sharpening tools used in Photoshop.