Our National Symbol

[Mike Landwehr]

Image captured on Homer IPT last March. Not much processing other than crop, resize and sharpen. Darkened pupil, and lightened some darker areas on side of the neck. Any other suggestions for improvement would be welcome.

7D
70-200 II + 1.4x @ 280
ISO 400
1/2500 @ f/5.6
manual exposure
handheld

[Ken Watkins]

Mike,

Not to sure if the IQ is coming through on here, is it a large crop?

This is a great pose with great light,

On here I think it needs a slight boost in oomph plus a tad more sharpening, I might also run some NR on the BG although there really should be no need.

[Mital Patel]

Mike,

I find this a very interesting image. Well the light plays the key role here and you did really well with exposing creatively.
I will def. give a USM to this as looks too soft. And bit more darkening may not hurt giving it more sharp cut-light feel here which would make the LRC black instead brown and the head will more pop up.

[Bill Dix]

Light, shadow and pose make for a very evocative image. Another vote for a little more USM.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

That is very cool. The tight crop and expression add to the drama of the cool light effect

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

mike, I like the idea here. quite dramatic and out-of-the-box. Well done. yes, USM will help. I am guessing the eagle was very close and flying fast across the frame...Af might me slightly off.

[Mike Landwehr]

Thanks to all for your comments and suggestions. The eagle was actually at quite a distance. We were shooting from a boat, with the early morning light behind us, when I turned to the right and caught the subject against a shaded hillside. The eagle was flying almost directly into the light, so there was no light on the rest of the bird, except just a touch on the tail feathers. The exposure was good for the bird's head because we were using manual exposure. This image is a major crop (14% of the original 7D file). The lighter area in the LRC is a side-lit pine tree on the shady hillside. While the lighter LRC may catch the eye, it also provides some definition for the primaries on the outer part of the left wing. I agree that the image can use some more USM--I'll take care of that on the final version!

[Melissa Groo]

Agree on a bit more sharpening needed, but really love the dramatic feel of this, it's a nice work of art. Great comp and lighting.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I must say that the IQ held up alright for such a huge crop. That, and your processing made the image look like a painting. Yes to more sharpening on the head, but looks like the critical focus was on the front wing. Love the warm light. The brown area in LRC does not bother me too much, you could just reduce its' luminosity a bit, but still OK.