Rough-legged Hawk

Gallery: AvianPosted March 7, 2010301 views24 comments

Here's a Rough-legged Hawk that I photographed hovering over the Samish Flats in WA last weekend. There was very light little light in the eye so I applied a levels adjustment to it, but still wasn't able to get much light in there and still have it look natural. This is cropped to vertical.

MkIII 500F4, 1/1600 F8 iso 640 manual exposure, handheld

Comments

24 comments

Comment posted by István Molnár on March 7, 2010 at 4:07 PM

Oh yes!Very very nice composition.Moment caught well.
Congrats:István

Registered on January 7, 2010, 114 Posts, 704 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on March 7, 2010 at 4:16 PM

This is nice Nate. A bit more light on the face, especially the eye, would have made this a stronger image, but I love the dynamics of this.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Kenneth Arni on March 7, 2010 at 4:23 PM

Great shot Nate, love the wing span and comp.

Registered on December 24, 2008, 112 Posts, 629 Comments

Comment posted by Daniel & Loana on March 7, 2010 at 4:54 PM

Great shot! Incredible wingspan!

D&L

Registered on October 7, 2008, 166 Posts, 3044 Comments

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on March 7, 2010 at 5:10 PM

Nate,

The pose of the roughie is great, I love how the wings and the tail are spread, I also love how subtle the clouds are in the sky of the background. I agree with your treatment of the eye, if it were lightened sufficiently to show light there, it would not look natural and I think that would have detracted from the image.

Ron and I saw a very dark morph Roughie last week, so dark I had a hard time figuring out what it was until I could see it on my screen. Plumage variation is amazing in some species of hawks.

Registered on June 25, 2007, 491 Posts, 12566 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Bunch on March 7, 2010 at 5:39 PM

Very nice capture. I love the spread wings and tail. It looks like one of those native american thunderbird symbols.

Registered on May 18, 2004, 124 Posts, 2503 Comments

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on March 7, 2010 at 5:50 PM

A lovely capture of A rough-legged, Nate. No nits from me.

Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments

Comment posted by Dan Moore on March 7, 2010 at 6:55 PM

You might not be happy with the eye but you must be pleased with the great wingspan.
I personally like the little head turn.

Dan

Registered on February 11, 2010, 143 Posts, 1248 Comments

Comment posted by mark cillo on March 7, 2010 at 8:12 PM

Love the wing position! Cool flight shot

Registered on July 27, 2008, 143 Posts, 1483 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on March 7, 2010 at 9:04 PM

This is sweet Nate! Excellent wing position and detail!

Ken Archer

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on March 7, 2010 at 10:18 PM

Nice exposure and an interesting head turn, Nate. The lack of light in the eye doesn't bother me much in this instance.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Doug Backlund on March 7, 2010 at 11:10 PM

Love how the wings and tail are arched, if only you could have got that catchlight! I know the feeling....

Registered on September 29, 2005, 252 Posts, 3380 Comments

Comment posted by Mauro Pasquero on March 8, 2010 at 3:17 AM

Simply beautiful, Nate. Exceptional composition!
Mauro

Registered on January 21, 2010, 650 Posts, 2500 Comments

Comment posted by Colin Smale on March 8, 2010 at 4:05 AM

Dynamic shot, love it. Nate, I have found that there are angles where there will be no 'natural' catchlight, I used to try and put one in, it never looks right somehow so, no nits at all about catchlight.

Registered on November 10, 2003, 48 Posts, 1158 Comments

Comment posted by Nick Saunders on March 8, 2010 at 7:18 AM

That's a great pose you captured Nate. Getting him looking down like that also adds a lot imo

Registered on February 6, 2008, 321 Posts, 3035 Comments

Comment posted by KC Choo on March 8, 2010 at 10:32 AM

A small nit only about the light as you have mentioned, but what a glorious pose!

Registered on November 15, 2004, 519 Posts, 8278 Comments

Comment posted by David Sparks on March 8, 2010 at 10:42 AM

Nate:
Perfect wing position and angle for illuminating head, underwings and tail. I like the vertical crop.

Registered on May 26, 2007, 290 Posts, 4270 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on March 8, 2010 at 11:40 AM

Very nice wing span, it is always amazing the feather display on the wings, never get tired of looking at them, good job under difficult lighting conditions.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments

Comment posted by Monica Siri on March 8, 2010 at 1:21 PM

Nate,
I do like the dynamic flight pose you captured with the wingspan and the fanned out tail.
I like the vertical crop too.

Registered on September 20, 2009, 132 Posts, 3764 Comments

Comment posted by Cheryl Molennor on March 8, 2010 at 6:11 PM

Talk about a great flight pose. This is super! The wing light and detail is great and well seen in large post.

Registered on June 30, 2009, 300 Posts, 5051 Comments

Comment posted by Raymond Klassen on March 8, 2010 at 9:18 PM

Really nice! No critique from me! This makes me excited for raptor migration near my place. Right now it's mostly B. and G. Eagles, but these guys are comin'!

Registered on November 30, 2008, 114 Posts, 790 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on March 8, 2010 at 10:31 PM

Impressive flight position; captured nicely.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1031 Posts, 12705 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Gulash on March 9, 2010 at 12:40 AM

Powerful pose. The eye is a bit dark, but it may actually add to the mystery and feel of the photo.

Registered on January 28, 2005, 879 Posts, 12098 Comments

Comment posted by Satie Sharma on March 9, 2010 at 3:19 AM

Love the wingspread, Nate. I agree with the amount of brightening to the eye. More would have been too much.

Registered on November 11, 2003, 189 Posts, 5335 Comments