Bald Eagle Dive

Gallery: AvianPosted January 3, 20173,721 views10 comments

This American Bald Eagle had just located a target and was starting it"s dive. Even though I under exposed the image 2/3 of a stop to control the whites I still managed to blow the whites on top of his/her head. I liked the Eagles body position in this frame and the implied action. Taken New Years Day.

Thanks for looking, comments & suggestions are always appreciated!
Large image provided for best detail.
Canon 70D
Sigma 150 – 600 C @ 275
1/5000
f/8.0
Aperture Priority
ISO 500 HH
Processed RAW image with Lightroom 5.7, CS5

Comments

10 comments

Comment posted by Jefferson Silva on January 3, 2017 at 7:07 PM

Beautiful image, Steve.
The larger version is must see. Well done!

Registered on December 18, 2012, 162 Posts, 975 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on January 3, 2017 at 7:24 PM

Great flight pose, Steve. The blown whites aren't that noticeable.

Several years ago, I went on Nate's Eagle trip on the Hood Canal out here. He convinced me that the best way to shoot them was with manual exposure. Just set the exposure on anything white that's convenient and set it to barely be inside the histogram. You do have to adjust occasionally as the light changes, but the big advantage is that you don't need to adjust when the eagle moves from sky to water to trees in the background. Give it a try and I think you'll like the results.

devil

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

Comment posted by Jim Gavin on January 3, 2017 at 10:45 PM

Steve, Great capture of the intensity with which eagles pursue their prey. Dennis, thanks for the suggestion re: whites when shooting eagles.

Registered on August 14, 2008, 293 Posts, 1250 Comments

Comment posted by Jerry Austin on January 4, 2017 at 11:09 AM

Great dynamic image. Techs look spot on. Well done.

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

Comment posted by David Bogener on January 4, 2017 at 3:44 PM

Different and interesting body position in this capture. Agree that the blown whites are not that noticeable. Well done.

Registered on October 30, 2013, 417 Posts, 1255 Comments

Comment posted by David Schoen on January 5, 2017 at 7:13 PM

Amazing intensity on this eagles face. I like the extended talons that go along with the dive. You really got nice light for this.

Registered on November 6, 2006, 1213 Posts, 4587 Comments

Comment posted by Hans Overduin on January 8, 2017 at 11:49 AM

Excellent way to start the New Year, and yes the shots definitely renders ACTION in captitals cool

. Well done, Cheers, Hans

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

Comment posted by Ken Watkins on January 9, 2017 at 4:31 AM

Steve,
There's a great expression of certainty on the face, great action beautifully captured

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

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on January 14, 2017 at 1:10 PM

Wow, missed this before... really exceptional image - great pose, amazing dive and incredible stare -
Congrats on the WP!

Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on January 14, 2017 at 2:15 PM

I also missed this one earlier. Great shot Steve congratulations on the WP!

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