Preening Hawk

Gallery: AvianPosted July 18, 201057 views8 comments

Preening Cooper’s Hawk (Accipiter cooperii).

I wonder why this hawk has his eyes closed……maybe he’s concerned about getting a feather in the eye….or maybe I just caught him in a blink. Come to think of it I don’t normally see hawks with their eyes closed…

This image is a very large crop. It’s only about 2 MP in size. The long dimension of the original is not much above the 1200 pixel size of the large posted image. I wish that I could have gotten closer. However, that said, I still like the image because it does show quite a reasonable level of detail along with this interesting pose. I experimented with Alien Skin’s BlowUp 2 uprezzing software and believe that I can duplicate this detail for any “normal” print size. I could have made the crop less extreme by including more sky and branches. However, this composition appeals to me much more. I expect that many of you have been caught in the same situation?

All comments very welcome.

7D, 400 mm f/5.6: ISO 500, 1/1000 s, f/7.1, image is 1703 pixels x 1136 pixels (=1.9 MP or 11% of the 18 MP of the 7D). NR, minor exposure adjustment and sharpening.

Comments

8 comments

Comment posted by Angela McCain on July 18, 2010 at 11:33 AM

He seems pretty serious about the work he's doing. I like it overall. The area around the nares/base of the beak appears a little green. May need some color correction there.

Registered on April 19, 2009, 367 Posts, 3589 Comments

Comment posted by Carol Hyman on July 18, 2010 at 11:41 AM

I can't say I've even seen such closed eyes on any bird, before, Hank.

He almost looks like a blowing leaf, and yes, far away, or no, you picked up a very reasonable level of detail.

Good job on making the best of a habitat shot.

Carol

Registered on January 18, 2007, 597 Posts, 8062 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Balke on July 18, 2010 at 11:55 AM

Thank you everyone. Just a quick reply regarding this recently posted image and Angela's comment about the green portion of the beak area and need for color correction: I noticed the green color in the raw images of this bird. Other colors in the images appear fine. I think he really does have a green beak!

Registered on June 18, 2009, 229 Posts, 2915 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on July 18, 2010 at 4:24 PM

I'm amazed at the image quality considering the size of the crop, so nice ps work there. A neat behavioral shot as well.

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on July 18, 2010 at 8:18 PM

Steve, the behavior is interesting and as others have said the large crop held up well. At first I was a bit put off by the branches in front of the bird but upon reflection I must admit that I like the way they follow the form/shape of the body and tail of the hawk, which I find interesting for some unexplainable reason...

Registered on March 30, 2007, 437 Posts, 10915 Comments

Comment posted by David Sparks on July 18, 2010 at 8:25 PM

Steve:
I like the unusual pose (don't remember seeing a preening hawk shot previously). I think the branches mentioned by Ron would be distracting IF they were not in sharp focus. Neat capture.

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

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on July 19, 2010 at 9:08 PM

Your depth of field worked great here Steve, having the branches in focus makes this work. Love the preening pose.

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

Comment posted by Steve Balke on July 23, 2010 at 4:07 PM

Thank you for such interesting comments, everyone. I find it especially surprising that having the branches in focus was so important. I wish that I could say that I planned it that way!

Registered on June 18, 2009, 229 Posts, 2915 Comments