Swainson's

Gallery: AvianPosted September 3, 2013139 views5 comments

For my birthday my parents got me a Nikon D7100!! I've been testing it out like crazy lately so have got a ton of images. While my dad and I were on our way to Waterton we spotted this beautiful Swainson's hawk perched on a post. He was honestly the most cooperative hawk we've ever found!!

I really like the storm coming in in the background, I think it adds a nice splash of color to the background.

Thanks for lookin'!

Nikon D7100
Nikkor 200-400mm f/4 ED VR @ 400mm
ISO 640
1/800sec @ f/6.3
+1.3EV to compensate for bright sky background
On beanbag from truck window
Full-frame
Converted twice from RAW with Phase One Capture One Pro 7, one conversion for sky, one for hawk and post, blended in PS5
Selective adjustments to tone and contrast with Nik Viveza 2 and Color Efex Pro 4 in PS5

Comments

5 comments

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on September 3, 2013 at 10:32 AM

Pretty sweet image Jenaya. Love the background. the perch is what it is. Not sure about the overall composition. Feels like a lot of fence post. I took a look at a horizontal composition that was tighter. For me it worked better.

I think it would help if there was a bit more light in the hawks eye. Maybe a little dodging in and just outside the eye?

Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments

Comment posted by Craig Strand on September 3, 2013 at 11:24 AM

This is really top notch, a wonderful capture with excellent comp. Congrats!

Registered on March 30, 2008, 416 Posts, 2885 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on September 3, 2013 at 11:37 AM

Jenaya, I agree with Keith. I assume this is full frame. I believe I would crop to at most halfway between the top and lower barbwire strands, although it would be nice to include the lovely knot. You have a lot of room for play here, and I feel the picture would benefit with less fence.

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Sharon Hallowell on September 7, 2013 at 9:29 AM

I like this as posted. Very nice, Jenaya, to compositionally place the bird where you did when you pressed the shutter. In doing so you left yourself a lot of options for the final comp, but I like it the way it is. Sharon

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

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on September 9, 2013 at 7:11 AM

Really like your comp here Jenaya

Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments