Eagle on the attack

[Robert O'Toole]

Image Copyright 2010 Robert OToole / Robert OToole Photography.com
NIKON D700 and Sigma 100-300mm F4EX lens at 135mm, 1/1600 @ F5.6, ISO 400, Manual mode, hand held.

Homer area (outside city limits) last month, Feb 2010.

This image was made during my Winter Bald Eagle Workshop series.

When I left Florida for my workshops, temps in the 40s and 50s F, and when I arrived in Alaska it was in the 50s and 60s. We had perfect weather and I couldn't asked for anything more, we even had snow flurries the last few days. I cant wait to get back up there for my summer workshop in June!

You can see more images here: http://www.robertotoole.com/galleries/latest-images/


Thanks for looking any comments or questions welcome.

Robert

[Arthur Morris]

Sharp and a great pose. Love the outstretched talons. Would have preferred the landscape either above or below the bird.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Pose and sharpness look great. I don't find the BG too distracting but might decrease contrast/saturation a tad.

[Steve Canuel]

Nice open wing position and he really pops off the BG. I like the mountain BG but would've preferred the eagle in the open space above.

[Robert O'Toole]

Thanks to everyone for taking time to comment.

Robert

[Ilija Dukovski]

Agree about the landscape, but the wingspread and the pose are really excellent.
The plumage detail is really good. I like it.

[Markus Jais]

Hi Robert,
great shot with a wonderful wing pose. I like the placement of the eagle in the frame and the visible habitat.

Markus

[thijs broekkamp]

Awesome stretched wings! What a enormous bird. 135mm is pretty close! too bad of the light air in the background.

[niranjan sant]

superb outstreached wings and am loving it with the bg as habitat

[Jay Tan]

Super wingspread Robert! Would have love to see more of the eye. Also like the environmental background behind. A side question, how does the Sigma 100-300 f4 perform for flight/action images?

[Robert O'Toole]

Awesome stretched wings! What a enormous bird. 135mm is pretty close! too bad of the light air in the background.

Light air, you mean haze?

If you mean haze I dont mind so much as it makes the bird stand out more.

Thanks for the comments.

Robert

[Robert O'Toole]

Super wingspread Robert! Would have love to see more of the eye. Also like the environmental background behind. A side question, how does the Sigma 100-300 f4 perform for flight/action images?

Hi Jay,

The 100-300 is surprisingly good. The range is great and the sharpness is also very good, better than the Nikon 70-200MKI. AF is ultrasonic type and it works well for flight.
The downsides are size, its larger than a 70-200, and there is no distance limiter or VR/IS so you need to use good technique. The low price makes it a great value even after looking at the downsides.

Thanks for taking time to comment.

Robert

[Kiran Poonacha]

Nice setting this, the pose and details on the bird looks great and the BG adds here..