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Thread: California Harrier

  1. #1
    Lifetime Member Doug Brown's Avatar
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    Default California Harrier

    I spent the weekend in California chasing raptors with Gary Rouleau and Arash Hazeghi. Very physically demanding terrain. We had a great time!

    Name:  20101212-_V5C7789-Northern-Harrier-crop.jpg
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    Canon 1D Mark IV, 600mm, f/5.6, 1/2500, ISO 400, manual exposure, hand held
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    Doug, very nise pose, light, BG and subject placement. The head looks a little soft for your high standards :-)

  3. #3
    Lifetime Member Doug Brown's Avatar
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    It wasn't my sharpest frame of the weekend, but it was my favorite pose.
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    BPN Viewer Haim Ziv's Avatar
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    Absolutely great flight pose, but you are right about the sharpest. I wish to have something like that. :)

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    Lifetime Member Stu Bowie's Avatar
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    Hey Doug, I can see why you like this so much. Excellent pose showing the dorsal view, with a good banking angle. Well placed in the frame, with good eye contact. Blending in the LLC could be an option.

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    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    this ticks all the right boxes for me Doug...exquisite pose, exposure, BG and compo...
    :D
    Morkel Erasmus

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    BPN Member Paul Lagasi's Avatar
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    I have over 20 different banking images of Harriers, only one thats in decent focus.....they are so hard to track. Banking pose, look, wing position and exposure make this a keeper... sharpness already been mentioned....TFS

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    BPN Viewer Josée Normandeau's Avatar
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    Yes, a bit soft but what a nice pose and a nice bird!

    Handholding a 600 makes any terrain very demanding... :p

  9. #9
    Lifetime Member Doug Brown's Avatar
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    Attached Images Attached Images
     
    The biggest thing that kept this image from being tack sharp was the heat shimmer/ thermals at the time of image capture combined with the fact that the bird was relatively far away from me. At Half Moon Bay heat shimmer can be a real problem, even with a temperature of 60 degrees. Here's a 100% crop of a RAW file from that same banking sequence. The squiggly horizontal and vertical lines are all heat shimmer
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    Lifetime Member Doug Brown's Avatar
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    Attached Images Attached Images
     
    A little later in the day when the shimmer goes away and the bird is a little closer to you, things improve quite a bit. Here's another 100% RAW file crop (unprocessed) of that same Harrier.
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    Doug, fantastic pose and background. Image could benefit from some brightening - without blowing the whites of course.

    I'd mostly certainly taken the sharpness as shown but agree that many of your other images are significantly sharper. How far away from the Harrier were you? Half Moon Bay can be absolutely epic (see my email last year) but it just doesn't happen each year. Best, JR

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    Lovely flight shot here Doug and well done with 600 mm hand held .

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    Lifetime Member James Salywoda's Avatar
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    I'm not totally sure its heat shimmer Doug but I'm certain its caused from the moisture in the air here on the coast I've trashed tons of images because of it. I think the shots composition really looks great nice dorsal view I can see why you like it I'm glad you had fun.

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    Beautiful doug bhai.. I love to shoot harriers banking, I am trying too... hope to get one with your blessings...

  15. #15
    Lifetime Member Doug Brown's Avatar
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    Appreciate the honest feedback!
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    IOTY Winner 2008 Chris van Rooyen's Avatar
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    Well done under difficult conditions! Lovely posture and background..

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