One for the Road

[Doug Brown]

I'm headed to Denver today to take my firstborn to her freshman year of college. Hard to believe! At least I'm not getting any older! Here's a Red-Shouldered Hawk from Jim Neiger's boat this spring.



Canon 1D Mark IV, 500mm + 1.4x, f/5.6, 1/3200, ISO 500, manual exposure, hand held

[Marina Scarr]

This is a killer image all around, Doug. Love that downward wing and all its details.

Of course, YOU are not getting any older! It's all in how we feel. Being out in nature so much sure helps me feel young, and I imagine it's the same for many nature photographers.

[Alan Murphy]

Sent my first born off to college last week too. Awesome image Doug.

[dankearl]

Wow, 3d looking, outstanding head shot with the eye and call.

[Grace Scalzo]

Very dynamic pose and beautiful details. Good luck to your daughter!

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Man that is awesome. Great wing position and calling too. Love the Detail . Carrying this heavy gear load thru the sand keeps me 25 for 25 years now LOL.

[Randy Stout]

Doug:

I like the peaking talons, great down stroke, calling pose.

Only thing that could have made it better was less merge of the bill with rear wing, and maybe a strategically placed cloud or two!

Best of luck on the trip. It will be filled with lots of mixed emotions I am sure.

Cheers

Randy

[Mack Hicks]

Absolutely superb! I'm not getting any older either, mentally, but my body sure has a lot of aches that didn't use to be there.

[Troy Lim]

Awesome capture, been enjoying your images from FL. :) Next time, hope to get to shoot with you.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Doug, excellent shot....open bill makes all the difference here. loved the bird angle and the wing position.

[gail bisson]

Hi Doug, we just sent out LAST born off to first year medical school. I thought it would be so much easier than the first but it was harder... We are now officially empty-nesters and in 4 years should have all kids off the family payroll!!! ...just think of all the camera gear I will be able to buy!!!! Good luck and don't cry too much! It is a bittersweet moment when you drive away from the dorm or apartment.
Now back to your picture...It is awesome. I love the open beak and the downward beat of the wings. IQ is superb,
Gail

[Luis Villablanca]

Beautiful image, Doug. It looks like it is taking off.
I love the wing position, open beak and the awesome red patch on the shoulders.
Just curious, did you do any cropping?

[Ron Sprunger]

That's just plain spectacular. A wonderful image.

Just got back from Hawaii, where I watched my next-to-last defend his dissertation (younger sister did it three years ago). And I definitely am getting older by the minute.

[Kim.K.K.Lam]

Beautiful flight shot and perfect shooting angle...Doug.

[Herb Houghton]

Great wing position and the open beak definitely adds to it even though it does blend with the far wing. I like the flight angle too on this one.

[Doug Brown]

Just curious, did you do any cropping?

This image is cropped Luis. What you see is 60% of the horizontal pixels from the original frame.

[Stu Bowie]

Hey Doug, I really like the forward wing position, and your ss has frozen the flight posture very well. Lovely colours on the wing. The open beak puts this over the top. Very well captured.

[Bill Dix]

Terrific image in every way. Merge of open bill and wing takes it from a 100 to a 99 on my perfection scale.

[Doug Brown]

and your ss has frozen the flight posture very well.

As you point out, this shot was all about shutter speed. To freeze the launch from the perch I wanted 1/3200 or faster, so I adjusted aperture and ISO accordingly.

[Doug Brown]

Appreciate everyone's comments!

[Morkel Erasmus]

Cracking image again Doug! You keep delivering the goods. All the best for your daughter's collage kick-off!