Moment Before Landing

[Ken Lassman]

Blues Cypress Lake, FL.

Another Osprey from the photos I took just after sunrise at Blue Cypress Lake.....lighting was beautiful. I wish there was better definition of the head against the wing but the details of the feathers and the outstretched talons against a perfect sky along with the intense concentration in his eye appeals to me. I actually did very little to this picture..just a slight crop on the right side. They come in fairly quickly and I have been trying to catch them when they hit the brakes and get into this position....this was my best so far. Thanks for viewing and appreciate your comments.

Nikon D300
Nikon 75-300 @ 125mm
ISO 400
F/5.6 @ 1/1600
Manual, Hand Held, standing in pontoon boat

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Ken,

The small catch light in the eye tells me your panning technique was good (very little motion blur). I like the picture as is, and at 125MM, wow,.. he was right there!!

Great BIF image!

[stuart wanuck]

can not beat that place for osprey.nice landing shot

[Oscar Zangroniz]

Great capture Ken. Wanted to go today but when I called for a boat they were all booked. I'll try in a couple of weeks. Big congrats on your capture.

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Ken Good pose and made a sharp image !! Don't mind the head against the wing at all, partly would be a problem. Exposure is a bit over with areas around breast and legs with no detail.

PS wise can tweak the body for lighter fethers in the shadow areas and increase contrast a bit more !!! Fun place to shoot and you will get many more keepers !! btw this morning the wind was strong and was difficult just standing on the boat !!!

[Colin Knight]

I would go for another round of sharpening on this guy.

Nicely done! It is indeed a very good landing shot.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Ken, Love the birds position with the talons outstretched. Lighting is warm but agree with Al regarding the exposure. Just enough of a perch showing with a clean sky. In this case the head merging with the wing doesn't bother me either...Good action!!

[Troy Lim]

Ken,

It is a great shot. Agree with the overexposed spots, plus another round of sharpening would make this bird pop.

[Desmond Chan]

Like the pose and the wing position ! A powerful pose !

[arash_hazeghi]

Intense landing pose and excellent details,looks like red-channel is blown in the highlights but worth revisiting in the RAW to see if you can recover. sky is a tad dark, I would brighten and desat a bit. It also has lots of room for sharpening for more pop.

Overall an excellent image, congrats

[Harold Davis]

totally agree with arash, and if it were mine, i might loosen the crop all the way around it. but that's purely taste! one powerful image worth working a little more!!