Red Shouldered Hawk

[Jay Bernstein]

Canon rebel xti
Canon 100-400mm 5.6L IS usm
focal length 400mm
ISO 400
F8
1/1600sec
I also have been trying to get this guy in flight. still not fast enough making the adjustments. I did have him here for at least 20 frames. I cleaned up the pines to reveal more to the left perch but I think I got a pretty good exposure here
Jay

[Dave Leroy]

Very nice pose on this one.

Exposure looks good on what must have been a bright day.

I am not sure if this has a bit of a colour cast but I might try and lower the reds or do some checking.

Dave

[Myer Bornstein]

Nice capture, I would take a little from the right so the bird is not in the center and I do not find a color cast on my computer

[William Malacarne]

Very good exposure Jay. If it were mine (I wish it were), I think I would take some off the bottom and off the right side.

Bill

[Julie Kenward]

Jay, nice pose he's giving you! You got great detail and a catchlight in the eye so kudos on that.

I also think he's a bit too centered - you might try some alternate crops. You've got a small patch of white on the back area next to the tail that's blown. Check your histogram and you'll see a fairly small spike on the right side. If this were mine, I'd open it in RAW and bring those highlights down so the spike goes away and you gain a bit of detail back in those feathers.

I also see a slight magenta or red cast. Try this: Open the image in PS and then open a levels adjustment. Click the "auto" button and see how it shifts the colors a bit. See if you think that appears more natural or not. For me, I notice it most in the brown feathers and the shade of green on the tree - both look a tiny bit on the red/magenta side to me.

[Jay Bernstein]

Jay, nice pose he's giving you! You got great detail and a catchlight in the eye so kudos on that.

I also think he's a bit too centered - you might try some alternate crops. You've got a small patch of white on the back area next to the tail that's blown. Check your histogram and you'll see a fairly small spike on the right side. If this were mine, I'd open it in RAW and bring those highlights down so the spike goes away and you gain a bit of detail back in those feathers.

I also see a slight magenta or red cast. Try this: Open the image in PS and then open a levels adjustment. Click the "auto" button and see how it shifts the colors a bit. See if you think that appears more natural or not. For me, I notice it most in the brown feathers and the shade of green on the tree - both look a tiny bit on the red/magenta side to me.

Hi Julie,
You always give the best advice! How you can look at a picture an know it had too much red is beyond me. I used the red filter because I was trying to bring out the feathers that I saw. he appeared to me much redder with the naked eye.
I took your advice and started the image over from RAW.
I had a hard time with the pine needles. They were as high as the wings so I had to fix that.I recropped too.
What do you think?
Jay

[Julie Kenward]

Jay, after you've looked at and commented on over 10,000 photos you come back and tell me how I can see a red tint so easily! :D

I like the repost very much! Good work. :)

[Pete Riola]

Good comments how about a touch of tonal contrast on the bird only? The birds tail does appear clipped on my screen.