First post here-Red tailed Hawk, Take off.

[Amol Khedgikar]

Hello everyone,

This is my first picture post on this fine forum after lurking for some time.

It was my first image of the morning. I had set out to get a barred owl in the area. this was the first bird I saw sitting in the sweet morning light. It rarely happens to me that I am on the right side of the Sun. I set the camera to shoot this in manual mode(I almost always shot in AV till a few days ago). as I was walking towards it the bird hinted taking off. I stopped and focussed and the bird took off. Nice start to the day I thought.

7D, 100-400 @ 400mm, 5.6, 1/8000, ISO 250, Free sharpening action provided on this forum. lightened the shadow where the lower wing attaches to the body.

[Ian Cassell]

Nice start to the day I thought.

Hello, Amol, and welcome. I agree, this would be a very nice start to the day. I like your positioning in the frame and the image is sharp. The lighting is very nice! Good catchlight in the eye. I think the tree on the left adds interest to what otherwise might be a boring solid blue sky.

[John Chardine]

Hi Amol- Big welcome also! I would love to see a bigger version of this image. BPN allows 1024 x 800 so long as the file is < 250k. Your image quality here looks excellent and may allow you to crop tighter on the bird. Although I like the tree, it makes the image seem unbalanced because there is nothing in front of the bird.

Could you try a vertical crop of the bird at 800 pixels high (you may have to clone out residual tree branches to achieve this).

[Amol Khedgikar]

Thank you Ian.

I had same thoughts on the tree.

Hi Amol- Big welcome also! I would love to see a bigger version of this image. BPN allows 1024 x 800 so long as the file is < 250k. Your image quality here looks excellent and may allow you to crop tighter on the bird. Although I like the tree, it makes the image seem unbalanced because there is nothing in front of the bird.

Could you try a vertical crop of the bird at 800 pixels high (you may have to clone out residual tree branches to achieve this).

Thanks so much John, This is one of the best forums on the net.

I thought I had the correct size but apparently not. I am re posting with a vertical crop. I left the tree deliberately in the frame to have a sense of place.

[P-A. Fortin]

I definitely prefer the second crop. Though it is personal taste, I always prefer "close up" shots.

As for the small tree branch, I'm not sure. Because of the size difference between the bird and the tree, it looks a bit odd to me. Like if the Hawk was gigantic Or maybe is it because the bird was _very_ close to you? Although, being myself a 100-400 owner, I assume the bird had to be quite close for you to get such an amazing shot. It must have been quite an exciting encounter.

Did you post-process the bird much differently than the background? The bird is so sharp and bright against the background that it almost looks like if you had pasted a different sky behind it.

[Kerry Perkins]

Hello Amol, good thinking and execution to take advantage of the situation! Super pose and wing position. The spread of the wings and angle of the capture really make for a striking image, and you maximized the DOF nicely. For my eyes, I would like to see the sharpening applied only to the bird, as the tree tends to look artificial and there is a bit of noise in the nice blue sky. This is common with the 7D in my experience, but a light bit of noise reduction can take care of it.

[Amol Khedgikar]

As for the small tree branch, I'm not sure. Because of the size difference between the bird and the tree, it looks a bit odd to me. Like if the Hawk was gigantic Or maybe is it because the bird was _very_ close to you? Although, being myself a 100-400 owner, I assume the bird had to be quite close for you to get such an amazing shot. It must have been quite an exciting encounter.

Did you post-process the bird much differently than the background? The bird is so sharp and bright against the background that it almost looks like if you had pasted a different sky behind it.

Thanks Fortin,

I see What you are and John was trying to say about the tree. In the op had left it there to have a perspective but in the verticle crop I cropped too much and now it does look like the hawk is a giant against the tree. It was not too close to me. Its about 25-30% crop. Thats it.

I get lot of RTHs in my area. Have some decent shots but this sequence by far is the best I have.

[P-A. Fortin]

Well, yet again it is a matter of opinion. I can understand those who like it because it differs from a "plain" background. Which is also true. However in this case, the "giant" effect is what caught my eye first.

The 25-30% crop is an important information though, especially when judging sharpness of an image. I would suggest that you do mention it along with your tech specs in future posts.

And now I am less jealous about how RTHs get so close to you

[Amol Khedgikar]

Hello Amol, good thinking and execution to take advantage of the situation! Super pose and wing position. The spread of the wings and angle of the capture really make for a striking image, and you maximized the DOF nicely. For my eyes, I would like to see the sharpening applied only to the bird, as the tree tends to look artificial and there is a bit of noise in the nice blue sky. This is common with the 7D in my experience, but a light bit of noise reduction can take care of it.

Thanks Kerry,

Thanks for the kind words, I do agree that 7D does give a bit of noise. Being a relatively new user I thought I was doing something wrong to get that noise on a beautiful sunny day. But Now I guess I know.
I didnt use sharpening from PS instead I used the free actions provided here by Morkel Erasmus ( My PP skills leave a lot to be desired ). I didnt do anything else (Apart from 25-30% crop) as I thought it was pretty sharp out of the camera. I am reposting with the tree removed and the BG NRed pl have a look.

[Amol Khedgikar]

Well, yet again it is a matter of opinion. I can understand those who like it because it differs from a "plain" background. Which is also true. However in this case, the "giant" effect is what caught my eye first.

The 25-30% crop is an important information though, especially when judging sharpness of an image. I would suggest that you do mention it along with your tech specs in future posts.

And now I am less jealous about how RTHs get so close to you

I agree, Now that you have mentioned it I too see what you see. So reposted w/o the tree and some BG NR.

I will take care to mention most detailes from here on . Thank you for the suggestion.

And Just in case you are feeling better that RTHs dont come close to me either, just look out for one more RTH image in future... . (It will get you back to jealous...., May be not the actual picture as it was completely against the light. But I was thrilled to see her at my eye level , about 8-10 feet away from me)...

[Kerry Perkins]

Looks good Amol!

[Joel Eade]

Really nice, the 1/8000 shutter speed even froze the wing tips which is seldom accomplished. Kudos.

[EzhilSuresh]

Amol, fantastic shot with very nice details all around. Looking forward to seeing more from you.

[Amol Khedgikar]

Thanks Guys.