Red Shoulder Hawk chick

[John Hawkins]

I photographed this today at JN "Ding" Darling Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island, FL.
It was on the trail at the Indian Mound walkway. It appears to have fallen out of the nest. Mother and Father were nearby. I let authorities know. They were going to see about getting it back to the nest. I used my Sony A700 with a Sigma 50-500 lense. Data=ISO 800, 0 ev, f6.3, 1/640, flash fired.

[David N Smith]

Nice capture John. I like the bit of catchlight in the eye and how you can see so much of the detail in the feathers. The detail in the feathers is one of the things I have not been able to capture consistently.

Dave

[LeeFortier]

Recently returned from Ding Darling. Spent sometime watching that nest. Sorry to see the little guy fell out. Hope they can return him to his folks.

BTW Very nice close up.

[Joe Brown]

Very nicely captured. You have dealt well with less than ideal lighting.

I'd remove the small catchlight from the flash in the center of the eye. The natural catchlight is adequate. Also, the eye is near dead center in the image. I'd add a little bg to the right of the bird.

Joe

[Gary Thompson]

Nice one John. I like the comp as it is. I think you could use some (more) noise reduction on the background, and I agree about removing the flash catchlight. You did well with the mixed light it looks like you were having, and you got some great details in the feathers and eye. I might try to remove the stick on the left.

Gary

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi John, nice story to go with your excellent capture! The mixed light was a bit of a challenge here, as the fill flash didn't get to the downy feathers along the neck and head, which have a bit of a cyan cast to them. The areas that are lit by the sun are quite a bit brighter. I agree with taking a bit from the right to get the eye out of the center of the frame and I would remove the flash catch light. I would also clone out the stick on the left. Nicely done!