prey feathers - another Bonelli's Eagle

[Humberto Ramos]

Another Bonelli's Eagle, in this one the male is plucking a Red-legged Partridge for taking her to the nest to feed her two chicks.
This shot was taken in a rainy day, some minutes after the rain you can see in a previous post of this eagle (post here), we still can see the water drops in Bonelli's feathers.


1D IV+600mm f/4 + blind

1/640 at f/ 5.6, -2/3 EC, ISO 800

Critics welcome...

[Jack Breakfast]

This image is stunning and wonderful but looks oversharpened to me...kind of crispy! Anyhow, that's an easy fix, to be sure. These Bonelli's Eagle pictures have been pleasing and delightful!

[Lyle Gruby]

Wow, those floating feathers are very impactful. Very sharp, love that you can see the water droplets. Only problem (small) that I see is the bright spot of the background in the lower right corner, there would be a nice color shift throughout the background if you burned or cloned that spot.

[Ofer Levy]

Another awesome behaviour shot!

[Humberto Ramos]

This image is stunning and wonderful but looks oversharpened to me...kind of crispy! Anyhow, that's an easy fix, to be sure. These Bonelli's Eagle pictures have been pleasing and delightful!

Thanks Jack, the original image is amazingly sharp, so to maintain the detail i sharpen the original 100% to 1 and than the 1024 version 80% to 0,3, agree with you a bit more sharpen than what I would like, will repost it with less sharpness...

[Humberto Ramos]

Wow, those floating feathers are very impactful. Very sharp, love that you can see the water droplets. Only problem (small) that I see is the bright spot of the background in the lower right corner, there would be a nice color shift throughout the background if you burned or cloned that spot.

I agree Lyle, I´m not as perfect as I wisht when cloning or burning the BG, thats why did,'t do anything to the bright spot. Will try to fix it...

[Humberto Ramos]

A repost with less sharpening, only 80%/1 in the 1024 version.

Any clue/tips to clone or tone down the bright spot in LRC?

Forgot to mention, 10% crop from ULC to LRC.

[dankearl]

The repost looks great Humberto, another really fine image, the feathers and the perch are very nice.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

This is just excellent, Humberto. This image has it all. I love the perch with the flowers, the prey, that gorgeous bg, perfect HA and the flying features to top it all.
Terrific!

[gail bisson]

Did you try burning the area or content fill aware?
This is a superb image. The flying feathers take it over the top. Love the perch and the BG.
I also like the way the flowers seem to "cup" the prey. The HA is perfect
Another keeper,
gail

[Grace Scalzo]

A great subject, excellent background, interesting behavior, all made better by the little yellow flowers. A memorable image. Lots of easy ways to fix that corner. I'd probably try a series of quick masks or some cloning at low opacity.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Very good action shot. Lovely bird, habitat, and clean BG. Sharpness has been mentioned.

[jack williamson]

A very strong shot, excellent IQ, BG and surroundings. The flying feathers really impact this image.

Jack

[Arno Ellmer]

Very pleasing behavioural capture,Humberto.I particularly like the interesting perch and the flying feathers.Would also tone down/remove the bright area bottom right.Perhaps also tone down the perch somewhat.

[christopher galeski]

nice one,love the plucked feathers in mid air,nice BG,good detail,like the rain on the birds feathers.well done.

[Robert Holguin]

Wonderful shot. I really like the flying feathers, wonderful background, great light, and excellent timing.Well done.

[Jonathan Ashton]

My first reaction to the initial image was that it was oversharpened, the second is absolutely superb. Regards the bottom corner a simple way to fix it:
Select the Magnetic lasso tool and click around the paler area, when you come to the rock go slowly to ennsure the lasso selects the edge of the rock.
When you have the area lasso'd refine the edge then take the Eye dropper tool and select an area nearby as an appropriate colour to dill in the lasso'd area.
Select the Brush tool, set it to say 30% opacity and then brush over the lasso'd area until you have the colour /density you wish. Voila!!

[rajandesai]

What a great capture. Those flying feathers absolutely put this over the top. Love those water droplets on the bird. I like the re-post better.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Humberto, love the eye level capture, and you have got yourself a lovely pose and HA here. The flying feathers puts this over the top, and although I dont find your OP oversharpened, your repost does look better. Lots of good advice to fix the LRC. Here is a quick attempt that took me 2 minutes. I masked the end of the tail and edge of the rock, selected the BG as active, and cloned in the area at a low opacity of 40%

[Humberto Ramos]

Thanks Stuard,

It looks fine to me, i'v no experience cloning or burning BG.

[arash_hazeghi]

excellent photo with lots of drama, I prefer the repost with less sharpening.

you def nailed it in these series.

[Arthur Morris]

Simply superb as stated above. Stuart beat me to the punch :). Same technique, same time: two minutes at most. Suggestion: get yourself a copy of Digital Basics.

[Humberto Ramos]

Simply superb as stated above. Stuart beat me to the punch :). Same technique, same time: two minutes at most. Suggestion: get yourself a copy of Digital Basics.

Thanks Artie, have buyed Digital Basics from your web site months ago, but didn't had time to read it carefull, next week will be on holidays and will read it with full atention...

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Artie, have buyed Digital Basics from your web site months ago, but didn't had time to read it carefull, next week will be on holidays and will read it with full atention...

Thanks Humberto. You've gotta get studying. You are a quite excellent photographer but today post processing skills are as important as your in the field skills. I hope to see some of your images in next year's contest.

[Humberto Ramos]

Thanks Humberto. You've gotta get studying. You are a quite excellent photographer but today post processing skills are as important as your in the field skills. I hope to see some of your images in next year's contest.

Thanks Artie, your nice words mean a lot to me.

I will enter in next year photo contest for sure...

Just started bird photography em 2010, my learning courve is still in progress, I´m not a professional for now (its no easy to become professional in a small country like Portugal), so only can take pictures in the weekends and not all, I agree with you, post processing skills are as important,my skill are still very poor, my next goal is to improve my post processing tecnics.

Thanks again Artie...

[Arthur Morris]

You are most welcome. We look forward to seeing your images. We are announcing the winners on the blog one category at a time. The quality of the winning images has been superb.

[Satish Ranadive]

Magnificent behaviour shot.Learned the lot from discussion.Loved everything in the frame.