The Bald Eagles Are Back

[Troy Lim]

Started to build/repair their nest already...getting ready for the season.



Camera Nikon D3S
Exposure 0.001 sec (1/1600)
Aperture f/7.1
Focal Length 600 mm
ISO Speed 1000
Exposure Bias +1/3 EV

[Randy Stout]

Troy:
Nice wing and tail spread, with good detail in the darker areas.
Some of the whites on neck and upper tail look a bit warm, and I might consider a linear burn on those areas, or multiply, or can reconvert with less exposure and merge the two. Lots of ways to do this, if there is still some useful info in those areas.

The nesting material is neat, look forward to your series as you document the process. Are these northern eagles, that raise a second brood in Florida? If not, where do they come from?

Appreciate the info.

Cheers

Randy

[Troy Lim]

Troy:
Nice wing and tail spread, with good detail in the darker areas.
Some of the whites on neck and upper tail look a bit warm, and I might consider a linear burn on those areas, or multiply, or can reconvert with less exposure and merge the two. Lots of ways to do this, if there is still some useful info in those areas.

The nesting material is neat, look forward to your series as you document the process. Are these northern eagles, that raise a second brood in Florida? If not, where do they come from?



Appreciate the info.

Cheers

Randy

Randy,

Original exposure was pushed a bit far right. I will have to look at the whites again. Thanks for the tips.
I don't think they really leave FL, just left the nest and probably still around throughout the year. I am still learning about this magnificent bird. Last season, we saw the Juveniles from this pair came back every once a while just to pay a visit but of course got chased away.

[Duane Noblick]

Love the wing spread and the nesting material is a plus. This is one clean Eagle and I like the fact all it's feathers are intact. The pair I follow should pick their nest in about a month and unfortunately they're still molting. Good luck following your pair...I've learned a lot the three years following our local pair.

[Troy Lim]

Love the wing spread and the nesting material is a plus. This is one clean Eagle and I like the fact all it's feathers are intact. The pair I follow should pick their nest in about a month and unfortunately they're still molting. Good luck following your pair...I've learned a lot the three years following our local pair.

Thanks Nick, actually there are several pairs here that I follow....
This pair, the male is a new mate. The husband died last year and she found a youngster, a cougar I guess. :)

[Mike Tracy]

Randy,

I don't think they really leave FL, just left the nest and probably still around throughout the year.

A good percentage of Florida eagles head north once their young have fledged with the Chesapeake bay area being one notable destination.

Nice light under the wings which is normally hard to get with eagle unless there is reflecting snow or water.

[Troy Lim]

A good percentage of Florida eagles head north once their young have fledged with the Chesapeake bay area being one notable destination.

Nice light under the wings which is normally hard to get with eagle unless their is reflecting snow or water.

Thanks for the info Mike. ;)

[Arthur Morris]

I love the even light on the underparts and the totally flat presentation by the bird.

[denise ippolito]

Troy, The under body and wings rock! The fanned tail and nesting material make this special. I agree w/ Randy regarding the whites-but this is very,very nice!

[allanrube]

+1 to Art and Denise - great even exposure of the underwings!

[Troy Lim]

Thank you all...I am trying not to clip the highlight too much in camera so I could pull the details back.

Troy,

If you lower the contrast setting in your camera, the in camera generated jpeg that you see on the LCD display will more closely represent the highlights that are actualy in the RAW file. This allows you to use the camera's highlight alert feature (blinkies) to pinpoint the edge of blown highlights for the best exposure. This means that you can very acurately get the best exposure that does not blow out the whites of the eagle while getting as much detail in the dark areas as possible. This is a technique that I learned from Chas.

You need to shoot in manual exposure mode to use this effectively, but manual is the best method for BIF images anyway, IMO.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Wonderful image Troy! lovely light and pose. That is a busy eagle!