The stealth hunter

[arash_hazeghi]

Juvenile Female Northern Harrier,
taken in Half Moon Bay, CA.

Enjoy!



MK4 500mm f/5.6 1/2500sec IS 800.

[Sid Garige]

one fo the best raptor images I have seen Arash.

[bhavya joshi]

Aresh,
my favorite bird.....looking awesome...

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Spectacular wing spread, environment and details. Excellent, excellent work, Arash. TFS

[Ofer Levy]

I love this one! Superb in every aspect!!

[Richard Pittam]

Fantastic shot. does anyone else think that the contrast of the plumage could be upped a tad? Re-posted if that's OK after a bit of contrast.

[Giulio Zanni]

Fantastic shot! Maybe a would leave a bit more room in front of the brid?

Giulio

[Randy Stout]

Arash:

Great wing/tail display, good head angle with this pose, colors in BG are complimentary.
My only wish would be for a bit more separation between the subject and BG.

I think Richard is on the right path, trying using local contrast to pop the bird from the background a bit more.

Cheers

Randy

[Matt Shetzer]

Fantastic. The stretch of the wings is fantastic. Might lighten the background in the bottom right corner to provide some contract between the bird and the background.

I'd print it big and hand it on the wall !!

Matt Shetzer

[arash_hazeghi]

Thanks everyone, but I prefer the original which looks closer to the scene on my carefully calibrated screen. this image is meant to show harrier's natural camouflage which they use for hunting voles in their habitat, a more distant BG will defeat this purpose.

[Matthew Studebaker]

Fantastic. Not only is the pose incredible with the wing and tail fan, but the background and plants in the forground add so much. I really can't imagine a better harrier image.

[Grace Scalzo]

Arash, Agree 100% with your processing choices. Lovely image of this beauty in her habitat.

[Sid Garige]

Thanks everyone, but I prefer the original which looks closer to the scene on my carefully calibrated screen. this image is meant to show harrier's natural camouflage which they use for hunting voles in their habitat, a more distant BG will defeat this purpose.

Agree with Arash on original is much closer to natural color tones.

[Joerg Rockenberger]

Fantastic pose of course with great sharpness and plenty of detail. Though I've got to admit that my first thought when seeing this image on my work laptop (speak not calibrated) that the brown feathers look a bit washed out. On the other hand I think the repost takes the local contrast too far.

JR

[arash_hazeghi]

Fantastic pose of course with great sharpness and plenty of detail. Though I've got to admit that my first thought when seeing this image on my work laptop (speak not calibrated) that the brown feathers look a bit washed out. On the other hand I think the repost takes the local contrast too far.

JR

I personally do not comment on contrast brightness when I am on any laptop screen, let alone a work laptop with those horrible LCDs. It can be misleading IMHO.


Thanks everyone :)

[Stu Bowie]

Absolutely nailed Arash. Great timing to capture this banking angle - not to mention the full wingspread showing off the feather detail. Good eye contact too. A fine image.

[OvidiuCavasdan]

Beautiful image! Great wings and tail display, sharp and I like the brown color tones. BG works great for me. Congrats!

[Bill Dix]

Arash, I'm a great fan of your raptor shots, and this one is up there with the best of them. Wonderful pose, coursing low over the field with great habitat shown and implied. I like it just as presented.

[Daniel Bailey]

The original is the winner! You should be very proud of this shot!

[George Cottay]

Even compared with your usual high standard this is a fine shot.

[Doug Brown]

Super capture Arash! Spectacular wing position!

[Allen Hirsch]

Great capture, Arash.

Was this taken at the Blufftop Coastal Park in Half Moon Bay? Nov of 2007, I got my first Northern harrier images there (and attempted my first BIF shots).

[arash_hazeghi]

Great capture, Arash.

Was this taken at the Blufftop Coastal Park in Half Moon Bay? Nov of 2007, I got my first Northern harrier images there (and attempted my first BIF shots).

This was taken in Poplar Beach area.

[Joerg Rockenberger]

I personally do not comment on contrast brightness when I am on any laptop screen, let alone a work laptop with those horrible LCDs. It can be misleading IMHO.


Thanks everyone :)

Well, you're of course entitled to do so. But pls note that Arthur Morris - some dude you might have heard about - uses his "laptop with those horrible LCDs" for all of his post-processing as far as I know.

At my freshly calibrated - but oh-no - private macbook pro the head and tail look okay but the colors on the wings and back seem washed out. Just as if some PS work has been done there. Nothing necessarily to object to but noteworthy. JR

[arash_hazeghi]

Well, you're of course entitled to do so. But pls note that Arthur Morris - some dude you might have heard about - uses his "laptop with those horrible LCDs" for all of his post-processing as far as I know.

At my freshly calibrated - but oh-no - private macbook pro the head and tail look okay but the colors on the wings and back seem washed out. Just as if some PS work has been done there. Nothing necessarily to object to but noteworthy. JR

Joreg this image has no PS work anywhere, I don't photoshop my photos-thanks.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Tremendous photograph Arash!! I must admit though that I have a slight preference to Joerg's contrast tweak, even if it is not exactly what you wanted to portray.

Joreg this image has no PS work anywhere, I don't photoshop my photos-thanks.

Just out of curiosity, are your images posted as-is...just as they came out of the camera? Not questioning your workflow, just very impressive if nothing at all is done to your images...

Keep them coming!!

[arash_hazeghi]

Tremendous photograph Arash!! I must admit though that I have a slight preference to Joerg's contrast tweak, even if it is not exactly what you wanted to portray.



Just out of curiosity, are your images posted as-is...just as they came out of the camera? Not questioning your workflow, just very impressive if nothing at all is done to your images...

Keep them coming!!

Daniel, I do crop my images.

[James Salywoda]

The best female harrier shot that I've ever seen.

[Tin Man Lee]

Wow, fantastic banking pose top side view! This is a perfect shot. Also love the foreground that adds a feel of how low the harrier hunt. Beautiful!!!