Eagle With Catch+Repost

Gallery: AvianPosted December 11, 2014280 views6 comments

The Eagles are starting to show up here again. This one had just snagged this fish from the River. Although the background looks like some kinda toxic oil spill, it is simply the setting sun reflecting on the water. I brightened under the wings, they were pretty dark and lacking detail. This about 70% of FF.

Thanks for looking; any comments & suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Larger image provided for detail.
Canon 70D
Canon 400mm 5.6
1/2500
f/7.1
ISO 1000
HH
Processed with Lightroom 5.7, CS5

Comments

6 comments

Comment posted by Jerry Austin on December 11, 2014 at 9:08 PM

I like the wing position, good look at the eagle's head and the pretty good look at the fish. However something just doesn't look right. It looks somewhat "artificial" for lack of a better word. Not sure what's going on.

Registered on January 6, 2012, 651 Posts, 3448 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on December 11, 2014 at 9:59 PM

Steve, I was wondering what the BG was...now that you said what it was, I can see it....funny how our eyes can play tricks on us like that. I like the angle of flight and always nice to get a shot with a meal in the talons.
Looks like the shadows were brought up a bit too much especially on the head. If mine, I might back off them a little so it looks more natural.

Registered on June 19, 2008, 1005 Posts, 8028 Comments

Comment posted by Mike Ramy on December 11, 2014 at 11:00 PM

Hey Steve,
Nice to get this close to this kind of action. Wonderful POV and good detail were it matters. I agree with Kurt about the shadow detail in the brown feathers. My guess is that the head feathers are wet and that is causing the unusual appearance.
Hope to see more Eagles from your Toxic Oil Spill location . . .

Registered on June 16, 2012, 567 Posts, 2809 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Watkins on December 12, 2014 at 1:00 AM

Steve,
The bird itself is wonderfully captured, but that background is something very special

Registered on December 15, 2010, 1537 Posts, 4877 Comments

Comment posted by keith mitchell on December 12, 2014 at 3:45 AM

Steve shadows nit covered, action on the bird is great also I am a big fan of that almost golden water.

Registered on July 12, 2008, 127 Posts, 1735 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Thompson on December 12, 2014 at 9:43 AM

Thanks for the comments guy's, I thought something was off but I couldn't nail it down. I have adjusted the shadows and lowered the saturation on the entire image just a touch. I think it's an improvement...I'd like to hear what you think. Thanks again!
Update: Now that it's posted I don't see much difference.

Registered on August 7, 2014, 125 Posts, 2319 Comments