High Key Eagle

Gallery: AvianPosted January 13, 2017153 views10 comments

I found this guy (gal) sitting in a tree overlooking an expanse of open water on the Mississippi River. He was looking at another eagle eating a fish on the ice below. I think he was formulating his plan to steal the fish. Shortly after this image was taken, he flew down to the ice and stole the fish. I like the feather detail and the intense look. Processed using Lightroom CC (2015) and Photoshop CC (2017) along with Light Craft's LightZone. Comments and critiques welcome.

Canon 1DX Mark II
Canon 200-400 f4 L IS
f5.6
1/1000s
Focal Length 490mm (Teleconverter Engaged)
ISO 1600

Comments

10 comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on January 13, 2017 at 11:58 AM

Excellent, Jerry. Really nice detail and the puffed out head feathers are very cool. Exposure looks spot on.

devil

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

Comment posted by Jim Hansen on January 13, 2017 at 1:15 PM

Very nice Jerry. As Dennis mentioned, love the puffed out feathers. Maybe could use a little more room all around. Seems a bit crowded, especially with that branch over its head. Impressed with how close you got to this bird.

Registered on May 5, 2011, 161 Posts, 908 Comments

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on January 13, 2017 at 1:40 PM

Nice high key exposure. Details in the eagle look great. I'd do something with the top left corner though.

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

Comment posted by Steve Thompson on January 13, 2017 at 4:23 PM

I like the intent stare in the Eagle and the feather detail is very sharp. The top left corner should be fixed and I would also clean up some of the smaller twigs in the frame. For some reason the small branch coming off the main trunk has a lot of blue in it. Not sure why that happened there. You may want to check that out. Nice catch Jerry.

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

Comment posted by Ken Watkins on January 14, 2017 at 1:24 AM

Jerry,
What a wonderfully intense stare, the surrounding twigs have not helped you here, but I can ignore it devil

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

Comment posted by Jerry Austin on January 14, 2017 at 9:40 AM

Thanks for all the comments. It is always interesting to see comments about busy backgrounds and/or things that possibly could be cloned out. So, I quickly removed most of the small branches and reposted the image. For me, the repost looks a little sterile and lacks a sense of place. Artistically, is it better? I guess that is subjective. It is an interesting discussion and there is no right or wrong. I just think it's good we have these types of discussions.

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

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on January 14, 2017 at 8:15 PM

Super closeup of the Eagle. A definite need to clean up the top left corner and the OOF stick just East of your logo. Otherwise, darn near perfect! I think you went a twig or two to far in the repost.

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

Comment posted by Barbara Graham on January 14, 2017 at 11:26 PM

Jerry, I think everybody has different opinions about cleanup and how much to do. I agree that the repost has no sense of place. If you wanted another option you could clean up everything above the perch but leave everything below. Beautiful image.

Registered on July 27, 2010, 1310 Posts, 5035 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Watkins on January 15, 2017 at 3:55 AM

Jerry,
The "sterile " result is one of the major faults of cloning when the background contains little.
What can you do?

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

Comment posted by Ken Archer on January 15, 2017 at 5:35 AM

A beautiful winter portrait you captured of this majestic eagle all fluffed out Jerry. I like the first version too.

Sweet One!

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