Red Tail Hawk in Flight

Gallery: AvianPosted April 18, 2011134 views3 comments

I caught this beautiful Raptor in flight at Chicoteague Island in Virginia. He/she was was just circling overhead for the longest time. I had to take my camera off the tripod and was literally holding it straight up in the air. I may have been better off if I was laying on the ground, lol.

I was using my Canon EOS Rebel T2i w/Tamron 200-500mm
Focal Length 322
F stop 5.6
Exposure 1/1,6000

I enhanced the photo in Lightroom 3 with a little with vibrance and clarity with a hint of saturation.

I realize the focus is just a little soft, but would like to know what you all think of the photo.

DK Hawk

Comments

3 comments

Comment posted by Richard Teller on April 18, 2011 at 6:30 PM

The back lighting and the detail are nice. It would have been nice if the hawk would have been looking down so you could see some eye, that would have added some real interest to the image.

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

Comment posted by Sharon Hallowell on April 18, 2011 at 8:25 PM

Nice view of the underside of this hawk. I am seeing a bit of a halo esp around the front of the wings, and the whole bird seems to have a yellowish cast to it....I'm on my laptop, so can't be sure. I do like the translucent wings. Sharon

Registered on November 1, 2003, 392 Posts, 4810 Comments

Comment posted by Mia McPherson on April 19, 2011 at 4:46 PM

Chincoteague is indeed a lovely place. I'll always have very fond memories of it. This image as posted is far too small to evaluate sharpness and detail, posting larger would allow people to give you more effective critiques. I like the sky background but think that if you had used some positive EV compensation the underside of the bird might have looked brighter. Also detect the halo that was mentioned and the yellow cast.

I think you made a mistake on the shutter speed 1/16000 ? Maybe more like 1/1600.

Registered on June 25, 2007, 491 Posts, 12566 Comments