RED-TAIL HAWK

[gary ellwein]

Mid AM, D200, Nikon 200-400mm, f4.0, 1/1250, iso 200, EV 0.67, matrix, hand held. C & C appreciated.

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Lots to like here, the vert crop is strong and love the blue sky with soft clouds. Love the varied feather colors and the expression is perfect and what we might expect from a predator. Really like this one. Not sure if some fill light would help underneath - let's see what others say.

[wendell westfall]

Gary, I have yet to get a good picture of a Red-tail. I'm envious! It all looks good to me except for seeming a bit soft on my monitor.

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Gary, I like this a lot - you did a good job with the light. This is always a difficult lighting situation and is never ideal. I'm going to guess that you lightened the under-wing area in PP, which is the right thing to do if you can't get the light there in the capture. Fill flash with a BB might have helped a bit, but at the shutter speed you correctly used here it wouldn't add that much. The very bright part of the hawk is not blown out or even too hot, very well controlled. Colors and detail are excellent and the calling pose is a bonus. The catchlight looks a little odd to me. Did you alter it at all? Not objectionable, but just seems a bit bright. Nice job, I would be happy to have this one in my collection!

[gary ellwein]

Hi Gary, I like this a lot - you did a good job with the light. This is always a difficult lighting situation and is never ideal. I'm going to guess that you lightened the under-wing area in PP, which is the right thing to do if you can't get the light there in the capture. Fill flash with a BB might have helped a bit, but at the shutter speed you correctly used here it wouldn't add that much. The very bright part of the hawk is not blown out or even too hot, very well controlled. Colors and detail are excellent and the calling pose is a bonus. The catchlight looks a little odd to me. Did you alter it at all? Not objectionable, but just seems a bit bright. Nice job, I would be happy to have this one in my collection!

Thanks to all for the comments and critique. Kerry, the catchlight was not altered.

[Kerry Perkins]

Thanks Gary, very nice image!