Red-tailed Hawk & Prey

Gallery: AvianPosted March 12, 2014118 views7 comments

I posted another Red-tailed Hawk a week or so ago perched on the wheel of an irrigation pipe. This was their alternative perch. Stubble fields make horrible backgrounds! I have another with the Belding's Ground Squirrel in the beak and I've been fighting with the bg on it. I'll go back to it eventually and hopefully figure out how to tame it.

1Div, 500mm f4 ISL + 1.4TC, beanbag on truck window, f5.6, 1/3200, iso 500, Av mode with no compensation,. Processed in LR5 & CS6. Numerous bright pieces of dead straw were cloned or otherwise cleaned up to remove excess distractions. Cropped to 6.2MP from a horizontal original of 16MP. Taken February 20th at 10:07 am in the Butte Valley National Grasslands.

You comments and criticisms are very much appreciated.

Thanks for looking,

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by Rick Cloran on March 13, 2014 at 11:23 AM

Nice alert pose. Its looking off away from you, so what caught its eye? It isn't mantling so it doesn't feel it needs to protect the kill. I wish the Belding's stood out a little more clearly. Other than that one nit the rest looks good for the contrasty lighting you had. I wouldn't worry as much about the stubble. We have to take them where they present themselves.

Registered on April 6, 2004, 119 Posts, 1989 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Teller on March 13, 2014 at 3:27 PM

Very nice detail, sharpness and dof. I think the head turn of the bird works very well also.

Registered on August 23, 2010, 1162 Posts, 6692 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on March 13, 2014 at 8:05 PM

Great eye contact here makes the shot for me Dennis. On my monitor it looks like you have a bit of a magenta cast.

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

Comment posted by David Haynes on March 14, 2014 at 11:56 PM

Dennis,
Difficult background or not this is a pretty neat catch for both you and the RTH. Very sharp and great detail and the coloration look spot on. Nicely done. Would like to see the one your are working on.

Registered on February 20, 2010, 110 Posts, 1511 Comments

Comment posted by Simon Bennett on March 15, 2014 at 2:39 AM

I like the eye contact Dennis, and you did a good job on the background.

Registered on February 4, 2007, 350 Posts, 4614 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Bunch on March 15, 2014 at 11:15 PM

I like the pose and the head position. I agree that the stubble field makes a poor setting but there was nothing to be done about it. Next time he will probably land on a very photogenic dead tree with his prey.

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

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on March 20, 2014 at 6:01 PM

I like this light, excellent color and sharp details too Dennis.
I've yet to catch a RT hawk, would be glad to call this one mine

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments