Swooping Bald Eagle

Gallery: AvianPosted December 1, 2015175 views10 comments

I took this several years ago along the Nooksack River in Washington State. Dozens (if not hundreds) of eagles congregate at a particular bend in the river in later December to feed on spawned-out salmon. This creates a wonderful opportunity to photograph these beautiful birds. I can't wait to check out this spot in a couple of weeks. Hope it's productive this year!
This image is cropped only slightly. I also lightly ran it through a detail extractor in Nik Software. Thanks for looking!
~Camera and Settings~
Body: Pentax K7
Lens: Pentax DA* 300mm
ISO 400, f/10.0, 1/2000 sec

Comments

10 comments

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on December 1, 2015 at 9:02 PM

I like the composition you have here Katie. Nice light, good banking turn and the clouds add a lot of drama. It's hard to tell with this size of image, but it appears there might be some noise in the BG? When you ran the NIK program, did you selectively do this on the bird? I am asking, because that program does usually introduce some noise. I might run a little NR on the BG only. Still, very nicely done.

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

Comment posted by scott lanz on December 1, 2015 at 9:16 PM

Wow, Katie, very impressive. devil

Registered on November 14, 2003, 840 Posts, 12902 Comments

Comment posted by Jerry Austin on December 1, 2015 at 9:57 PM

Very nice image. Love the look of this eagle.He/she looks battle worn and fierce.

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

Comment posted by Katie Jones on December 1, 2015 at 10:14 PM

Thanks for the comments!

Kurt - yes, I have struggled with noise on this image. I may try to re-work it and limit the detail extraction to the bird only and see how that comes out. Thanks for the suggestion.

Registered on November 17, 2015, 17 Posts, 91 Comments

Comment posted by Cay-Uwe Kulzer on December 2, 2015 at 7:03 AM

Well,

I have to say that I usually also like do run some noise reduction when I feel it is benefitial. All over this image looks to me a bit surreal and because of that I think that the noise background works fine. It gives the image something artistical. Well done.

Registered on January 27, 2004, 494 Posts, 4021 Comments

Comment posted by Hans Overduin on December 2, 2015 at 12:19 PM

Wonderful light, composition and overall image ! Good luck with this year's shooting ! Hans

Registered on August 31, 2011, 491 Posts, 3807 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on December 2, 2015 at 3:03 PM

Nice flight pose and a really cool bg, Katie. Sounds like a good spot away from thre crowds on the Skagit.

devil

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by May Haga on December 2, 2015 at 5:57 PM

Excellent timing. I love that the eagle is swooping towards the viewer.
May

Registered on February 22, 2007, 714 Posts, 8470 Comments

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on December 2, 2015 at 8:40 PM

This photo shows off the shear size and power of this bird. Love how dirty those tail feathers are and the bit of landscape and cloud drama in the background

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on December 7, 2015 at 6:18 AM

The nice light, the whispy clouds and the body language of the eagle in flight combine to make this a wonderfully dramatic photo Katie!

Excellent Composition!!!

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments