An Eagle Descending

[Bill Jobes]

Moments earlier, this American Bald Eagle snagged the fish from the Susquehanna River near the Conowingo Dam. After circling high with its meal, we see it here as it began its descent toward a tree line.

Nikon D7000
Nikon 600 VR II w/1.4 TC
1/1,000
F/6.3
ISO 1,000

C&C always welcomed and appreciated.

[arash_hazeghi]

nice light and the fish adds more, I also like the BG, but I wish for a better near wing position and I see some motion blur in the head.

[adrian dancy]

I like this quite a lot. Arash may have a point regarding head movement but difficult for me to be sure from my monitor. I can see a pale diagonal blotch pointing 45 degree up to the right from the upper tail/bird's left primary wing feathers suggesting cloninig or dodging?...easy to sort out I'm sure but all in all a superb image IMHO.

[Bill Jobes]

Thanks Arash and Adrian for the comments and reviews.

Arash, I agree on the near wing position, as it's less than ideal. I realize most favor 'freezing' the action with a high shutter speed, but at times I deliberately slow the shutter speed to experiment, as I sometimes like the effect of wing motion blur. Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't.

I also don't see any motion blur on the head, but I concede it's possible due to the slower shutter speed.

Adrian, I did no cloning or dodging on the image. I see the spot to which you refer, and I can only attribute it to the extremely varied BG with openings in the far tree line across the river.

[Robert Holguin]

Real nice shot. I really like the dramatic background, real nice light, great flight pose. I really don't mind the blur on the wing, and the fish really adds to this image.
Well done.

[arash_hazeghi]

Bill I think your ss was not fast enough for this action something like this needs at least 1/1600sec for tack sharp results

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

I also like the BG a lot. very nice angle of the bird. I wud have preffered higher SS to freeze it perfectly....but you were already quite high on the ISO front.

[Fred Canter]

The amount of blur in the photo, to me, doesn't detract from the shot.
A little motion in the wings, I don't really see a problem with the head.
Faster SS would help, but this shot has a lot of good going for it, position, prey,
and light. I think I would do a little work on the one spot above the tail though.

[Daniel Cadieux]

As posted the sharpness looks just "OK" to me, but I would definitely work on that spot above the tail, perhaps masking the bird to protect it and then cloning some surrounding greys onto that white patch. Very dynamic pose, and I like the grasping talons around the prey.

[Grace Scalzo]

Quite an intense look. I suppose that the techs aren't perfect but I still like it. A small fish for this large bird and his powerful talons, and I like the falling water droplets.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

I'm with Fred here as I think it's a great image with lots of potential. The angle of the eagle the great stare, the fish, the bg. And I don't mind the motion on the wings. If I were to change anything I would maybe burn the shadows on the head/face a little to add some depth. I also like that the bg but would try to smooth the white area and tone it down just a little.

[Manjeet & Yograj Jadeja]

lovely pose and background

[Bill Jobes]

Thanks for all the compliments and the great observations and suggestions.

No question a higher SS would have reduced blur. At the time the event occurred, I was dealing with rapid and unpredictable light changes. Wanting to stay in Manual, I elected to go to 1/1000 as a way to fit most circumstances, and overall, I'm pleased with the results. As mentioned earlier, I'm not averse to wing blur under the right circumstances.

A good topic for another thread might be on the theme of digital sharpness, and what seems to be our growing obsession with it. There's a difference between being 'in-focus,' and sharpness, and the boundaries of each intersect to varying degrees. Whether that point's result is good or less so, seems to reside in the eye of the observer.

The suggestions to mitigate the impact of the bright area near the tail are right on target, as is the attention to the head/face area.

Thanks to all.