Posted by Danny Green on January 29, 2007 at 4:05 PM
Just got back from a trip to Norway, my main target was Golden Eagle and it was very exciting to see these beautiful birds at close range, my only other sightings have been as dots in the sky. I have many different images in all sorts of weather conditions but I liked the pose in this shot. This is a picture of an adult male which had just been feeding on a Roe Deer carcass, after feeding for about 30 minutes he then decided to fly up to this dead tree and then spent the next ten minutes relaxing and preening. Not sure if he had heard the shutter go off on the camera but it was great to look down the lens straight into his eyes.
Canon EOS 1D MKII, 500mm Lens, F4, 1/125, ISO Rating 200
Danny
Posted by jack chapman on January 29, 2007 at 4:09 PM
great shot and what a magnificent bird.
was it taken from a hide?
Posted by Danny Green on January 29, 2007 at 4:10 PM
Sorry Jack I should have said that it was taken from a hide.
Posted by John Chapman on January 29, 2007 at 4:31 PM
Hi Danny
nice shot of the Eagle. I like the setting and the BG. is complimentary.
John
Aberdeen
Posted by Rob Howard on January 29, 2007 at 4:57 PM
Hi Danny,
Really stunning image. I just love that intensive stare that you are getting. composition, perch and colours all spot on. Did you use a bit of fill flash? or was there snow on the ground acting as a reflector, either way the subject is lit wonderfully.
Regards
Rob
Posted by Danny Green on January 29, 2007 at 6:13 PM
Hello Rob
The Light is from the snow on the ground, I got lucky with the weather with a lot of snow in the early morning followed by great light around mid day, the Eagles would usually arrive very early in the morning which was very difficult for photography. The female was very wary so I only have a few decent images taken very early, the Male was very good and didn't take a blind bit of notice of the hide and as long as I didn't make any sudden movements would stick around for along time.
Not to sure what you've done, but there's something looks a bit weird with the shot to me. I think you've possibly oversharpened it as the branch and eagle look to be stuck on to the background. Have you used any sort of shadow recovery on the shot too?
Posted by Sean Bolton on January 29, 2007 at 6:46 PM
Hi Danny
A great shot and composition. My initial thoughts on first look was you had used flash as the light on the branch looks a bit bright, maybe as a result of using the shadow/highlight tool or some other post processing, might be worth revisiting and toning down your adjustments.
Must be a great sight to see this bird at close quarters.
cheers
Sean
Posted by Danny Green on January 30, 2007 at 4:22 AM
Hello Nick and Sean
No shadow and highlight used and they was no chance of using fill flash as I don't think I would have seen him again. They was a lot of snow around and the light is coming from that, I warmed the temp up using rawshooter from 6000 to 7500 and then in photoshop adjusted in levels and added a bit of saturation. the only sharpening was unsharpe mask on the compressed JPEG which was set to 0.3 at 30 and applied 3 times. Anyway here is a straight raw convertion from rawshooter and no unsharpe mask on the compressed JPEG. I am not justifying myself just showing you what I took in the camera
Danny
Posted by Tim Munsey on January 30, 2007 at 4:40 AM
Some experience to see one of these wild, such majestic birds. I wish we could alter the surrounding background in this forum I'm sure some pics would benifit.
Nice one
Magnificent bird, I think Tim is right and that the white page bg may be causing a slight prob here, not sure, have been looking at this for a while and going back and forth from your orig to the straight conversion, I wonder if a bit of local contrast adjustment, just to the bird would help, you could do this by using a curves adjustment layer and then masking everything but the bird...
might help not sure though...
All the best
Posted by Danny Green on January 30, 2007 at 5:06 AM
Hello Phil
You are more than welcome to try and anyone else to see if you can get a better result.
Danny
Posted by Tim Munsey on January 30, 2007 at 5:12 AM
This is an effort on my poor work monitor.
Posted by Vincent Jones on January 30, 2007 at 5:22 AM
Hi Danny You made it back then Was it as cold has you thought it would be in that hide? Going by this image you must have had an amazing time & experience, I take my hat off to you!!!
Looks great on my monitor That stare is something else lol. Brilliant!
Vince
Posted by Danny Green on January 30, 2007 at 5:31 AM
Hello Tim
That looks better but only slightly so I don't think I am that far out. My original looks fine but I always struggle to find the balance right when converting to JPEG for this forum. Thanks.
Hello Vince
It was cold and the north wind made it colder but the Hide was great comfort with a small heater inside once I had worked out how to use it . I also photographed some small birds and the temp dropped to around minus 15, my feet were like blocks of ice and I think I have left my toes there
Hi Danny I have looked at this quite a few times it is a fabulous image, although on my monitor it looks to have very low contrast which I feel takes some of the visual impact away, if it were mine and I wish it was I would probably just select the eagle and apply a small amount of contrast or a gentle S curve.
Phillip.
Posted by Kevin Lewis on January 30, 2007 at 1:28 PM
Hope you don't mind Danny but I had a play because the original image does look low in contrast. I've uploaded a variation of the image here http://www.thelewiss.co.uk/images/danny.jpg. I'll delete the file once you have compared it with the original. It sounds like you had a great time, I'm very jealous
Posted by Mark Sisson on January 31, 2007 at 2:09 PM
Hi Danny - glad you got back in one piece (as have I today) and trust you used the journey time to catch up on sleep!
Nice to see you have had some time to procees something, and it's certainly sparked some interest on here - great shot and a great bird.
Will be in touch offline soon - mountains of work to catch up on now.
ATB
Mark
Posted by Danny Green on February 1, 2007 at 5:19 AM
Hello Kevin
Thats looks good as well thanks for having a play.
Hello Mark
Glad you arrived back safely, me and steve were still hung over at the airport so it wasn't a great journey home, must remember to stay of the moonshine when in Norway as it is strong stuff . It was nice meeting you and will be in touch.
Discussion
20 repliesCanon EOS 1D MKII, 500mm Lens, F4, 1/125, ISO Rating 200
Danny
was it taken from a hide?
Danny
Regards
nice shot of the Eagle. I like the setting and the BG. is complimentary.
John
Aberdeen
Really stunning image. I just love that intensive stare that you are getting. composition, perch and colours all spot on. Did you use a bit of fill flash? or was there snow on the ground acting as a reflector, either way the subject is lit wonderfully.
Regards
Rob
The Light is from the snow on the ground, I got lucky with the weather with a lot of snow in the early morning followed by great light around mid day, the Eagles would usually arrive very early in the morning which was very difficult for photography. The female was very wary so I only have a few decent images taken very early, the Male was very good and didn't take a blind bit of notice of the hide and as long as I didn't make any sudden movements would stick around for along time.
Danny
Not to sure what you've done, but there's something looks a bit weird with the shot to me. I think you've possibly oversharpened it as the branch and eagle look to be stuck on to the background. Have you used any sort of shadow recovery on the shot too?
A great shot and composition. My initial thoughts on first look was you had used flash as the light on the branch looks a bit bright, maybe as a result of using the shadow/highlight tool or some other post processing, might be worth revisiting and toning down your adjustments.
Must be a great sight to see this bird at close quarters.
cheers
Sean
No shadow and highlight used and they was no chance of using fill flash as I don't think I would have seen him again. They was a lot of snow around and the light is coming from that, I warmed the temp up using rawshooter from 6000 to 7500 and then in photoshop adjusted in levels and added a bit of saturation. the only sharpening was unsharpe mask on the compressed JPEG which was set to 0.3 at 30 and applied 3 times. Anyway here is a straight raw convertion from rawshooter and no unsharpe mask on the compressed JPEG. I am not justifying myself just showing you what I took in the camera
Danny
Nice one
Tim
might help not sure though...
All the best
You are more than welcome to try and anyone else to see if you can get a better result.
Danny
Looks great on my monitor
Vince
That looks better but only slightly so I don't think I am that far out. My original looks fine but I always struggle to find the balance right when converting to JPEG for this forum. Thanks.
Hello Vince
It was cold and the north wind made it colder but the Hide was great comfort with a small heater inside once I had worked out how to use it
Danny
Regards
Barrie
Phillip.
Nice to see you have had some time to procees something, and it's certainly sparked some interest on here - great shot and a great bird.
Will be in touch offline soon - mountains of work to catch up on now.
ATB
Mark
Thats looks good as well thanks for having a play.
Hello Mark
Glad you arrived back safely, me and steve were still hung over at the airport so it wasn't a great journey home, must remember to stay of the moonshine when in Norway as it is strong stuff
Danny