Headin' North

Gallery: AvianPosted February 3, 201584 views6 comments

This was my second time ever to see Eagles in the wild and the first time to ever catch one in flight. They ride the updraft coming over the dam at a lake about 2 hours from my house. I'd like to say that I took about a lot of good pictures, but I did take a lot of pictures. We were able to stay eye level with some of the birds as they cruised the dam. This is one of my favorites. I believe it is as sharp as any that I have from that day. Which was really no easy task. Winds were 20-30mph with 40mph gusts. The Eagles were blowing around and so was the end of my camera. All-in-all it was an awesome day as we were also able to see a couple of dives for fish and both came up successful. I even got one on camera, but not really worth posting here.

I worked all day on the two things I was told to do. focus on the eye and shorten my focal length. I did both of those things in this picture. The ends of the wings are soft I guess and not quite in as good of focus as they could be, but over all I am happy with how it turned out. I did an over all crop and made adjustments in LR5. Hopefully learning a bit from Keith's instruction on my Pelican.

Please don't stop with the critique and criticism.

Canon 7D Mk II, Tamron 150-600mm, 1/1000, 8.0, 428mm, ISO 640, no flash

Thanks,
Greg

Comments

6 comments

Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on February 3, 2015 at 1:37 AM

Flight shots are hard. But this is pretty good. A little earlier, with more of the head, would be stronger, but you have the elements here: decent sharpness apart from the tip of the left wing, nicely composed and nicely exposed. I might rotate the bird clockwise a couple degrees just to put it in level flight.

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

Comment posted by Jerry Austin on February 3, 2015 at 7:25 AM

You are getting better. The sharpness is not stellar, but not too bad. Don't feel discouraged when you are attempting flying shots. They are incredible difficult. Most of mine go in the trash bin. I would suggest that you pull back on the saturation a little. To me, this looks a little oversaturated. Well done. Keep'em coming.

Registered on January 6, 2012, 651 Posts, 3448 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Thompson on February 3, 2015 at 5:26 PM

Hi Greg, the composition looks good in the frame but like Jerry I think the saturation could be pulled back a bit. It also looks a little soft but you're getting there. Keep shooting!

Registered on August 7, 2014, 125 Posts, 2319 Comments

Comment posted by Greg Morris on February 3, 2015 at 9:29 PM

I made the changes you guys suggested. I appreciate the insight. Hopefully this improves it.

Registered on January 23, 2015, 38 Posts, 104 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Thompson on February 4, 2015 at 3:16 PM

I was just looking back at this and saw your re-post. That is an improvement. The colors look much more natural to me. Well done!

Registered on August 7, 2014, 125 Posts, 2319 Comments

Comment posted by Greg Morris on February 4, 2015 at 8:05 PM

Thanks Steve, I made the saturation adjustments and thought I had rotated the bird as well, but it doesn't look like I did that. Took a look at your website. You have some amazing pics. I hope to get there someday.

Registered on January 23, 2015, 38 Posts, 104 Comments