Northern harrier

As good as it gets Ron!

Not sick of the harrier shots. I have been trying for months to get a decent shot of one. I like to intense look on the harrier's face, I think he spotted something and is going after it.

Ron,

I do not get sick of your Harrier shots ever. I love the pose and frontal view of the bird which upon first glance made me pity the poor creature on the business end of those talons. Nice action and I like the BG. Keep them coming.

Rick

Ron, you and Ron D. and Mia are on a completely seperate level when it comes to harrier shots. Technically perfect and the phrag makes for a beautiful backdrop. I'm surprised at the detail and clarity at ISO 1000 and 52%.

Ron, I like this one just as much as the one with the great head turn and dropped talons. Like you say, this is a great dynamic pose. I find the bill stands out just fine for me and the light in the eye is really nice. I love the setting, those foreground grasses add so much. From a detail perspective, I find the edge-on textures in the left wing interesting and very cool. Looking closely it appears that the right wing is possibly slightly less sharp, but not in a way that detracts from the overall image.

Looks really good for 52% and ISO 1000--did you use NR on the bg? That Mark IV is pretty impressive.

Anyway, it's pretty hard for me to get tired of any subject when the images are this good, Ron. if you've got more like this, keep 'em coming.

Brian, no I did not use any NR on this image. The Mk. 4 really does well up to ISO 1250, then things start to fall apart. I prefer to shoot at ISO 800, but when you need SS and good DOF at the same time sometimes you have to push the ISO. These birds turn on a dime and if you want to stop that action you need higher SS. That's what I was going for with my setting for these images. I had been watching these birds turn on prey and knew SS was the top priority. Cheers.

Great in every respect, especially the pose and your composition.

I really like this shot. A little bit different view of a Harrier.

"....sure many of your are getting sick of my harrier shots by now." - Ummm, No! This is wonderful. love the spread of the wings, the excellent details and the monochromatic colors. You captured the concentration of the bird well. Well done.

Excellent. Keep them coming.

Wonderful flight shot, I really like the overall composition on this one with the darker top and the grasses on the bottom. The most striking part is the position and wing span of the hawk to really give a sense of hunting, well done.

Another awesome shot, Ron. I'm not tired at all to see your Hariers - I envy you that have so many opportunities with them - To me this shot is great in every aspect !
Congratulations.
Mauro

This is a winner in my book. Really cool image.

Ron, a awesome shot. Keep them coming. I hope to get to your level someday soon.

Ron Huff

Magnificent!

Very nice Ron

Sick? Never! Keep them coming

Doesn't get much better than this, Ron. I must say, considering this has been shot at iso1000 any visible noise is none existent, I have just posted an image of a Short-eared Owl, shot on my 7D at iso1000 and it's plagued with noise, so any tips on noise reduction would be greatly appreciated

edit: thanks for e-mail and the advice, Ron

Andy...

Wow!, this is impressive, what a capture.
Well done Ron.

Geoff.

Yea, I'm sick, because I have nothing even close to this beauty (yet). Another sweet Harrier Ron

Ken Archer

Just a wonderful shot, great isolation of the hawk and lovely warm golden BG! I don't see how anyone could be tired of an image like this! Cheers

Ron,
Superb image. The lighting is wonderful. What I really like about this shot is the dead grasses in the foreground. Beautiful environment shot. The fact that you can see both legs and feet, as well as the tail and wings splayed open is icing on the cake. Did I mention that it's also sharp??? Nice Ron.

Ron,
Superb image. The lighting is wonderful. What I really like about this shot is the dead grasses in the foreground. Beautiful environment shot. The fact that you can see both legs and feet, as well as the tail and wings splayed open is icing on the cake. Did I mention that it's also sharp??? Nice Ron.

Super image Ron. The flight pose is excellent - especially for this species hunting, the colors and textures of the phrags are perfect for the bird and the placement of the harrier between the sharper foreground seedheads and the OOF background couldn't be better. A very dynamic shot.

Ron, we never get tired of quality shots such as this. I really like the wing position and fanned tail. Well done!!

Love the pose of the bird and the vegetation on the bottom. Very dramatic!

Can't get sick of shots like this, Ron! Action and detail are gorgeous!

What a pose to capture! Love the rich browns. This is awesome! Sharon

Hi Ron Word's can't really describe this scene Awesome in every aspect
Albert Darmo. Canada

Ron,

This is beautiful. Great background and flight pose, lovely wing position and eye contact. There isn't a single thing I would change. A very pleasing, well done, impressive image.

Your best IMO Ron - the classic "what have we got here?" pose

cheers
Rob

This is excellent Ron, everything works..
About the only thing that could make it any better would a smaller crop.
Beautiful work!

You must be kidding, Ron: how could anyone be sick of shots like this. Wonderful capture as usual.
P.S.: Re; ISO and noise for the 1DM4: I think that we should keep in mind that there is a third variable affecting noise (beyond ISO setting and camera): brightness. So, while noise level can be fine at ISO 1250 in nice bright light, on some overcast days that may not be so.

Woderful flight pose Ron. Love the wing position.

I agree Steve. However, the camera's sensor does not know how bright or dim the light is outside, only how much light strikes it. You can "fool" the sensor and combat noise at higher ISOs on dim light days by "shooting to the right," so the image is overexposed just a bit (not enough to blow highlights), which are easier to control on dim days. This allows the sensor to gather the maximum amount of data and will keep noise to a minimum in even the darkest parts of the image. You can then bring the exposure down in post processing to the correct level. Many times I find myself just bringing down the highlights in this situation. This technique has worked well for me in combating noise no matter what camera I was using. Another benefit of shooting to the right is that it opens up the shadows and provides as much detail as is available in those areas under the lighting conditions. With the Mk. 4 I have found that I do not have to "shoot to the right" nearly as much even in dim light, which is really nice. My recent post "Bald eagle over ice" was shot in very poor light at ISO 1000 and I exposed it pretty much right on the money and there was no noise issue IMO. Camera's are getting pretty good at handling noise at higher ISOs and I love it. Cheers.

Another superb flight shot- colours and light are magic on this one- thanks for sharing your fine work, Fabio

I, for one, wont be getting tired of Harrier photos. I really like the gesture, light and color of this photograph

Thank you, Ron. I agree that the sensor is simply responding to the amount of light it receives, regardless of the day. So, a more precise way of talking about noise would be that it depends on the camera, ISO and the amount of light received by the sensor. I was very interested to see how effectively you are using "shooting to the right". It's a strategy that I tried briefly but I had trouble with highlight clipping. Later, I found taking three shots using exposure bracketing with the bracket displaced to the right gave me a better chance. However, then, too often the one shot of the three that I wanted to use because of the bird action was not the best exposed. Currently, I try to obtain the best exposure that I can, often using spot metering. I inspect every image for noise and then use Topaz Denoise 5 at levels ranging from almost no correction to a moderate correction depending on what I see. I watch for the effect on detail and take that into account too. I certainly agree with you about how great it is to see cameras improving their ISO performance. It may not be long before we can do without camera strategies like "shooting to the right" or post processing noise reduction. Here's hoping!

Ron, what's NOT to like about this? I first of all never get tired of good shots no matter what the species...but this harrier shot is over the top! I think what makes it the most interesting to me is the pose you managed to capture. This is quite different than other harrier shots I have seen. Very good work!