Taken at the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary in Irvine, CA last December.
The original image was badly underexposed - the camera probably metered on the sky (?). I think I managed to salvage the photo, and although it seems some detail has been lost, I felt the takeoff pose was dramatic enough to post.
Canon 7D and the 400mm f/5.6 lens. Aperture priority; center-wgt metering; f/5.6; 1/6400sec; ISO 640.
San Joaquin is one of my favorite places to photograph! Super sharpness and great pose. You were certainly metering the sky to get 1/6400 in Av mode. I'm surprised you were able to recover as much as you did with the 7D. I might darken the sky a little and give the bird a little contrast boost.
John, very good IQ considering this is an iso640 shot that was underexposed. The wing spread, tail spread and subject placement is top-notch. Thx for sharing.
Thanks for the additional feedback, everyone. Daniel, I lightened the upper wing quite a bit already, so I was concerned that any further lightening was going to bring out some noise. But I will give it a try...