Snowy Woods

Definitely love the comp as is, with some woods in the background, great capture

I agree with your interpretation of this Pat, it's a great shot.

Pat, this is amazing! It would be beautiful without the eagles, and to have them there is just -- well, I don't have any other word but amazing.

Pat: I think the very best place for this is on my hard drive. I'm not sure if I envy you the image or the experience more. 2 thumbs up! >=))>

Hi Pat Love everything about it The marvelous color and form of the tree is beautifully done. The birds are icing on the cake, but what a delicious icing
Albert Darmo. Canada

Wow Pat, I like this a lot. I posted an eagle in the snow recently, this trumps mine on many levels. Beautiful image.

Hi Pat: I think this is a wonderful environmental portrait of the eagles. The snow covered branches help tell a story. Posting it Avian would have certainly been fine with me It is a wonderful image.

Thanks for the comments you all. I appreciate them.

Keith,
My first inclination was to post this on Avian but I thought folks would want to see more of the birds and the only way I could get there was to give up the flora and I didn't like that version of the image as well. Thank you for the comment though. I'll certainly keep it in mind going forward. I still shoot birds at least once a week and sometimes more frequently. I enjoy it a lot even if I rarely get anything that I think is worth posting.

Again, thanks to all for the comments.

pat

What a wonderful shot, Pat ! Very nice pair in their natural habitat !!!
Congratulations
Mauro

Very nice shot, IMHO there is no reason why it could not be in Avian. To me the eagles are the subject, supported by the snow covered trees. Thanks for posting.

Wonderful, Pat, how the eagles blend into the woods so well. An excellent image with the diagonal branches and snow. Well executed.

Cold conveyed. Their displeasure with it conveyed. Thick growth of trees conveyed.
I'd say you were successful with this.

Pat:
I thought I am the only one who goes in to work on Sunday and bring a camera along. Great capture of this pair of early. It is hard to decide whether I like the birds more or the woods but having both makes this an even more engaging image.

Pat,

Well seen and well composed. My opinion is it belongs in both galleries. As much as I like macro and close-ups, it is also nice to see flowers, birds and other animals in their habitats.

Sandy
Berkeley, CA
Natural History Wanderings
http://picasaweb.google.com/sandysteinman

Avian image, Pat! Gorgeous, too. I'll continue to advocate for images like this in Avian. After all, how many times do you really get to see birds up close and isolated from their environment (by the effect of the long lenses)? I'm not nitting those kind of images, mind you. I just think there's room for different kinds of comps and interpretations of birds. And this is a great example, imo. Love it! In Avian... For a flora image, especially from you, Pat, it flunks.

Okay, Pat, everyone else said it more eloquently, especially Gary and Morris. And it doesn't really "flunk" for flora; it's just not "you," if you know what I mean.

I'm not much of a bird photographer, but this is Avian material to me. Sure, there is an environmental aspect to it, which is sometimes minimized (too much) in the usual Avian shots, but it is the environment that makes this interesting. Very cool shot regardless of where it is posted!
"two image stack" - hm - tell me more



Pete D.

Pete,

I shot this in continuous drive mode on the 7D. I had plenty of light and the 1/200 worked to freeze their action. They weren't doing much. So I figured I could get two images with an effective exposure speed of 1/100 for the pair. Since I thought I might need a severe crop I thought that anything I could do to reduce noise would probably be worthwhile.

In my experience stacking is a pretty good way to reduce noise. I've thought about it some and I'm guessing it goes something like this. Let f = the fraction of noise in any given image. Assuming the merging software masks noise with signal (I think it does), then merging two images with approximately the same amount of noise, reduces the noise in the composite image by a factor of 1-f. For example, suppose f - .1. Then, statistically .9 of the noise in the original image is masked when the images is merged with the next. This leaves .99 signal and .01 noise in the composite as opposed to the .1 noise in the original image. I don't know how much of an image is noise to begin with. I'm guessing a lot less than .1 but whatever it is, every time you merge an additional image you reduce the noise by .9 of the total noise in the image. If n is the number of times you merge the image then the noise in the composite at the end of the process is equal to f to the n. That's how I think it works anyway. The more pixels, the greater the statistical reliability of the model.

Basically, the idea is just that every image merge reduces the noise left in the merged image by a factor of f. If my assumption about masking is wrong, then all bets are off.

Pat

It's a beautiful Image Pat & i wud have no hesitation for posting this in Avian

What a fine capture and I agree with your decision to leave the trees/snow in the total scheme of things. I have really enjoyed your work over the last months as you are developing your own unique style and and work flow.

Pat, I think the concept is great and I also think those giant limbs detract from the birds.

I like the feeling of black and white with just a hint of yellows.

Cheers,

Carol