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Bald Eagle In-flight
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Bald Eagle In-flight

by Mike Martin

Gallery: AvianPosted February 3, 2013127 views4 comments
I caught this mature bald eagle in flight on SWEPCO lake in NW Arkansas using a canon 7D with a 500mm canon f4.0 IS lens coupled with a canon 1.4x extender. I shot this at f5.6 and a 1/3200 sec shutter speed with a setting of 400 iso. I tried to tone down the high exposure on the white tail with photoshop and topaz adjust.

Comments

4 comments
Comment posted by David E Lester on February 4, 2013 at 8:50 AM
Nice catch, I too have troule taming the whites on eagles in bright sun hoping not the blow the shadows..well done!!
Registered on March 24, 2010, 155 Posts, 793 Comments
Comment posted by Dennis Plank on February 4, 2013 at 4:56 PM
Nice flight shot, Mike. The sun could have been at a more ideal angle to illuminate the entire face. When shooting eagles or other birds with lots of high whites (like chickadees), I'll take test shots for the sole purpose of checking to make sure the whites aren't blown. If you don't have it turned on, it is very useful to turn on the feature of the 7D that shows flashing black outlines in overexposed areas. It makes it easy to compensate in the field. If you don't have text subjects, a piece of white paper in the same light will work.

:toast:
Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments
Comment posted by Jim DeWitt on February 5, 2013 at 12:53 AM
Obviously, you had a lot of light to get away with that much lens and that high a shutter speed, and I fear it cost you some detail in the tail feathers. The shadow on the neck is unfortunate, too. on the other hand, all that light gave you terrific detail in the back and wings, and let you get the all 6.5 feet of wingspan crisp. Probably the best you could do under the challenging light.
Registered on August 28, 2006, 1240 Posts, 8506 Comments
Comment posted by Brian Gatlin on February 5, 2013 at 7:49 AM
Mike, you've got some good input here already. I like the sharpness and the nice wing position and ascending flight, but wish the shadow wasn't on the head, and I do notice the blown whites.
Registered on March 21, 2009, 202 Posts, 4187 Comments