WC 442: Bald Eagle
by Bruce McCallum
This shot (actually part of a sequence of shots) was taken in late July 2008 in the Chilkat Eagle Preserve - Haines, Alaska. I knew that this was not prime time to see eagles here, but it still had all of the right geology for eagles to congregate (ocean coast, rivers, and a few salmon). Capturing a presentable close-up image of a non-captive eagle was something that was high on my list for this trip (a trip that took my wife and I all over mainland Alaska and the Yukon). I had very few chances to photograph eagles up close on this trip so far... and I had pretty much muffed each and every opportunity. Fortunately, I knew that all of my failed attempts could just be considered practice as this destination had been specifically added to our itinerary way back in the planning stages of our trip for the sole purpose of photographing eagles. It took several trips out to the eagle preserve in order to find a high target area and then a few more to find a suitable target in that area. There really were not many eagles around (we may have seen a couple dozen in two days) so knowing where/when to go was part of our learning process. Finally, we got lucky and managed put a number of elements together (proximity, weather, shadowless light, clean background, presentation, observation time, etc...) to make me feel pretty good about the results.
Image was cropped for vertical presentation.
Camera: Canon EOS-1D MKII
Lens: 400mm F2.8L @ 400mm
Exposure: 1/400 @ F5.6, ISO 100
Cheers,
Comments
9 commentsFine detail and pose.
I might consider cloning out some of the specksin the dark feather areas.
Needs some type of border, or a different BG color to define the image, though. The default BG is white, and the edges of the image got lost.
You can add another image in this same thread, if you wish to. (Reply, then use "browse" to add image)
Looking forward to more of your images!
Sandy r
Besides a great photo you have interesting documentation. Thanks.
This is an unusual and eye-catching pose the bird presented. "The Launch"??!!
Poster-type stuff. Great shot.
the fisch
PS: Heading for the Brooks Range Aug. 7th.
I like the lift off pose, the weathered snag and the lift of the wings. I recall being at Chilkat fondly. I'm assuming those are clouds in the background, I do remember the heavy fog and low hanging clouds that area had. And worrying about my gear getting all wet!
The background was just a high overcast day. The relatively shallow DOF for the scene made all detail in the sky blend to a constant... nothing. Other than a little sharpening in PS and a vertical crop from a horizontal capture, nothing else was done.
Cloning out speckles in the dark feathers... I did not even notice until now. Thanks for the tip. I am still learning to 'see' and all of the advice here has been great.
I may be off-line for a little while (all in fun) but hope to rejoin this gallery soon.
Cheers,