Lens Canon 300mm+2xTC, camera 50D, 1/800, f6.3, ISO 1250.
Slight crop for composition, noise reduction, increased saturation & contrast somewhat.
Wish I could say I planned for the GBH to be in the shot. Pleasant surprise when I saw it on the computer screen.
As presented, everything looks a bit soft though, did you run heavy noise reduction on the whole image? If so, I'd be tempted to try it again but only on the backgroud rocks, so that the birds are sharper. You could also try to reduce the brightness of the whites on the front bird.
To me the colour of the water also looks a bit odd, and I think you could straighten the horizon a fair bit.
With a couple of tweaks it will be a really great image.
John, you did capture a rare moment here but I don't think as a photograph it's as strong as it could be. The main problem for me is that the eagle really blends in with the large rocks behind him and I lose track of the details. He's also very soft throughout - I can't even pinpoint where the focal point is on the bird as the entire thing looks a bit unfocused. As Geoff stated, that could be due to the noise reduction so give that another go and let's take a look at it.
The water also looks unnaturally blue to me...did you adjust the color at all? His chest also seems to have more red in it than I would anticipate seeing but that could be due to the sun position. You definitely got a rare moment here - I'm not sure I've ever seen an image with two eagles AND a GBH in it!
Thank you all for your gentle comments which have reinforced pretty much my own critique of this photo. Unique moment, but, technically not a good capture, not even close.
John, the thing to remember is to love the image for what it is and to cherish the moment/memory of making it. There are missed opportunities in photography and then there are moments when the stars all line up perfectly and those moments are made sweeter by all we learned along the way.
Drop it, come on, drop it!!!!
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