I was at the Everglades National Park on Thursday morning. There was not much going
on at Anhinga Trail so I drove further into the park and went into the Pa-hay-okee Overlook.
As I drove in I saw this Red Shoulder Hawk just sitting in the tree with his back to me. I drove
down to the Boardwalk turned and drove back and watched him fly down and grab what I think is
a walking catfish and go back to the same tree.
He let me drive past to a good position with my beanbag to get this shot.
There was so much foliage, I gave up the idea of blurring the background and just left it as it was.
Canon 7D - 400 5.6
1/1000 sec ISO 320 F 7.1 AV +1/3
Hey, Garry, good catch (for you and for the hawk). I think the crop might be a bit tight around the head and breast (and even a bit around the tail). If he is full frame, I would think a bit of BG wouldn't be too hard to add. The branch in front of the bird is a bit bothersome, but sometimes you have no choice! For some reason, although the eye looks sharp to me, the feathers on his back look a bit soft. Did you use NR on the bird? TFS.
Greetings. Would say good catch but Ian beat me to it. Too tight for my taste, but I think the perch does you in since it looks like to the front would be busy with branches.
Alway fun being with nature and observing the ways of life. Agree with Ian's comments too tight. This type of shot is fun and evidences an interesting moment in nature. The techs are fine could have bumped the ISO to 400 and raised the shutter speed (no big deal). I would not try to repair the background either. I might lighten/sharpen the eye area it is beautiful - where was the point of focus and did you use center sensor. Thanks for sharing sounds like a fun day.
Last edited by Jeff Cashdollar; 11-20-2011 at 10:26 PM.
I like the hawk, sharp with good exposure. I agree with the others that the image is too tight fore and aft. Does the original allow a recrop. I'd also experiment with a horizontal crop. I'd be willing to sacrifice the fish. The foreground branch could be eliminated with some quick mask and clone stamp work.
Thanks for the comments, I looked at the original shot and I do have room in the front and back
to add a little canvas.
Also Ian, the original is pretty sharp, no Noise Reduction, however I think as I look at the
jpg I posted on flickr compared to the one I resized to post here, I botched up the
conversion.
I have to go back and look at Arties Digital Basics to see how better to manage that.
Again, this is extremely helpful and I appreciate you guys comments.
Hi Garry, It is always fun to get this type of behavior. I also think the crop is too tight and prefer more canvas. Agree with Gary that the fish could go. You might think about a horizontal crop-I think the branches below the feet draw the eye away from the bird's head.
the crop looks too tight for me and i think the tree under the bird got the focus and the bird is in the dof, in any even the bird's head looks slightly oof soft
Red Shoulder Hawk - Everglades National Park
