Eagle Flight

Great shot Cheryl. The larger version show nice detail given the poor light under the wings. The sharpness is good considering the relatively slow SS. The head feathers look a bit funny, like NR was applied to that area, but it may just be my eyes.

For those inquiring about AF versus MF and using the 2X extender. When used with the 300 2.8 AF still functions. Keep in mind that many non-pro Canon camera bodies need a minimum wide open aperture setting of f/5.6 for autofocus to work. Canon 1-Series camera bodies generally require f/8 for autofocus to work. 2 x 2.8 = 5.6 so AF works on the 7D Cheers.

Nice timing Cheryl. I think your metering is probably getting fooled by the light sky. One option for this sort of situation is to use manual exposure. Another is to dial in an exposure compensation (ie +2/3) or so to get what looks right to you. In either case you will end up with a brighter sky as well as a lighter exposure in the under wing areas.

Really good. The head detail and sharpness are excellent-as are the feet and talons. I'll bet that 7D can handle a higher ISO too. But I'm not sure why anyone is giving YOU advice. We should be taking it.

Nice timing Cheryl. Agree that it is a bit dark. I routinely shoot at +2/3 to +1 1/3 when shooting birds in flight against a relatively light sky like this one. You still have enough detail to pull on this one that post processing can help rescue the darkest parts of the image.

Excellent!
You guys have chicks already? I'm movin' THERE...
Great capture of action here.
Sandy r

Cool shot.Moment caught well.
István

Hey, Thanks everybody. i'm a bit challenged on metering these guys because of the white heads. I was shooting -2 or so but somehow not on this shot which is great cause it would be even darker. Some of you are saying shoot on the +side? what about the whites? Thanks so very much. Also no manual focusing as Ron described

Very nice timing and a good shot in tough light.

Hi Cheryl,

The whites will depend pretty much on the amount of sunlight and the angle the light hits the head. I think test shots and watching your histogram closely to see that you're exposing to the right without blowing the highlights and getting 'blinkies' is the trick. I find bright overcast is my preferred light for bald eagles just because of the high contrast but regardless of light they can be tricky.

Cheryl,

I like the great wing spread here, just a little dark under the wings. Exposing a dark bird against the sky is a challenge every time they are photographed because there is much to take into consideration. Your whites are not even close to being over exposed in this image so I would have used positive EV compensation for this image.

Increasing your ISO when using aperture priority would have given you a fast shutter speed, which you need for flight shots.

I may have left more room in front of the eagle and taken a bit off of the right side, to where the M is in images on your copyright line.

All of that said though, I like this as posted.

Excellent timing. Can't wait to see some images of the chicks.

Great capture Cheryl, where was this BTW?
I made a couple of trips to a nest here in Texas at Llano right off the highway, but slightly out of reach with my setup.
I had the same problem shooting the eagle against a bright sky, they're tough to expose correctly..
Well done

You've made a great shot here Cheryl. Eagles at the moment of takeoff make for an exciting image.

I've recently started shooting eagles too and had to work on my exposures. I've been using center weighted exposure and +1 EV with pretty fair results with a medium bright sky. Next I'll probably go to +2 EV.

Good shooting.