Time to start getting helpful critique! Image shot from my kayak, 7/8/2010 6:30pm. Equipment: Canon 7D, Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 II EX DG MACRO HSM. 1/1000 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 400; Shot RAW; hand-held; Landscape, cropped to Portrait.
I like the "underneath" view you have here but I do find the branches a bit distracting since they intersect with the body of the eagle. If he had gotten a little further away it would have been a nice aside to the image.
The one thing I noticed about the eagle is that the whites appear hot and the darks are almost blocked. These birds are hard to get good exposures on for these very reasons. I'd try a shadow/highlight adjustment and see if you can't open up the darks a bit more (especially the side of the head that's in shadow) and then see if you can tone down the white hot areas of the tail.
Finally, from a compositional standpoint, we like to have "room" for the bird to fly into so going horizontal instead of vertical would add some space on the left side for the bird to head towards.
Keep the images coming - you'll be surprised at how quickly you pick things up around here. And don't be afraid to critique the other images. You'll learn twice as much from looking at what you do and don't like on other people's work because you can have a totally objective opinion.
Yes welcome Steve, and sorry to take so long to get to your image.
You did really well to capture the split-second action of the bird leaving its perch. Wonderful detail in the underwing. Nice clean BG and the perch is not distracting.
I know this is not easy from personal experience. As the bird is exiting, stage-left, I would give more room on that side, so it doesn't look so much like the bird is flying into a brick wall. Perhaps try a different crop to accomplish this. Lighting is the other issue. The harsh light is coming from the right and unevenly lighting up the subject. This causes a wide dynamic range and the camera simply cannot handle it. That's why there are dark and hot areas of the image.
Taking Flight... Bald eagle
