Red-tailed Takeoff

Gallery: AvianPosted January 1, 2012138 views7 comments

This photo was taken at San Jacinto Wildlife Area, California
January 1, 2011.

Nikon D300 f/8 1/2500 Nikon 200-400 with 1.4
ISO-640 0 step 550mm
Aperture Priority Handheld
White Balance - Sun

The hawk had just taken off from the branch just below the photo. I left the branch in because it seemed relevant to the shot. But, it may be distracting and should be removed. I am curious about what you think.

Feedback welcome.

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on January 1, 2012 at 6:38 PM

Great action shot with a nice look at one of the eyes. I don't mind the branch as it gives the bird some presence

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on January 1, 2012 at 7:05 PM

Patrick, this is nice action. I would leave the branch if this were mine. In the larger image the noise is pretty high. It might be good to try some noise reduction on the BG. The amount of detail in the bird is hurt by the noise as well. Was this a large crop that magnified the noise?

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

Comment posted by Patrick O'Healy on January 1, 2012 at 7:44 PM

Ron B,
It was a fairly significant crop and the Hawk was rather dark. I think the process of lightening him caused the noise to increase. Thank you for your feedback. If I could only take better images the first time, the CS5 techniques would not be so dramatic.

Registered on March 13, 2011, 326 Posts, 1679 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Ditch on January 1, 2012 at 8:01 PM

A nice action pose, but the image is seriously compromised by the technical issues. Yes, increasing exposure in raw conversion/post processing is a sure recipe for nasty noise in the image, and coupled with a big crop it only gets worse.

I also see that the small and large version look quite a bit different: the blue has too much cyan and is too saturated for my tastes, while the larger version looks more natural.

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

Comment posted by Patrick O'Healy on January 1, 2012 at 8:09 PM

Richard,
Thank you for your wisdom. Your comments about the difference in color are perplexing, though. I made no other changes to the images other than the size. Is there an explanation for that?

Registered on March 13, 2011, 326 Posts, 1679 Comments

Comment posted by Hali Sowle on January 1, 2012 at 8:31 PM

Great action in this shot Patrick. I too like the branch in the image, there is a sense of what has happened at that moment. I have to agree about the noise and the color in the larger image, I can't answer why there would be a color shift for the smaller one but there really seems to be one.

Registered on January 9, 2008, 36 Posts, 582 Comments

Comment posted by Harry Harris on January 1, 2012 at 10:15 PM

Way to go Patrick, I cannot explain the color shift in the small image from the larger one either. Some good points were made about the noise but I overlook that because you probably can work on the process and improve that issue. The action and the sharpness of the head and eye coming right at you is what makes the image for me and makes it a winner.

Skip

Registered on August 2, 2010, 169 Posts, 741 Comments