second eagle: The second of two eagles shots I am going to post today. Taken using a Canon 7D. I am hoping the exif data shows but am having a problem, my reader isn't working on this...

oldtool2 Loc: South Jersey

The second of two eagles shots I am going to post today. Taken using a Canon 7D. I am hoping the exif data shows but am having a problem, my reader isn't working on this site so I don't know. Taken at ISO-250, f/8, 1/640, spot metering using a Sigma 500mm lens. This is fairly heavily cropped duet to the distance it was taken at.

Feel free to play with it.

Jim D

Bmac Loc: Long Island, NY

I like this image very much, especially the composition with the off centered subject and leading lines made by the two large branches. On download the eagle appears to be acceptably sharp for printing. The only suggestion, and it's nitpicking, would be to perhaps use a wider aperture to soften the numerous small branches in the background. This can also be achieved in post processing if you desire. 8-)

oldtool2 Loc: South Jersey

Bmac wrote:

I like this image very much, especially the composition with the off centered subject and leading lines made by the two large branches. On download the eagle appears to be acceptably sharp for printing. The only suggestion, and it's nitpicking, would be to perhaps use a wider aperture to soften the numerous small branches in the background. This can also be achieved in post processing if you desire. 8-)

Thank you, I will take this as a compliment! You right, there are an awful lot of small twigs in the background.

Using LR 4 or PSE 10, do you know how I can remove some of them? This is something I have never tried.

Jim D

Country's Mama Loc: Michigan

Now this shot is much better composed. You have the eagle in the top third horizontally and vertically. (Don't feel you always have to use the rule of thirds, but if you don't know why you are not).
Again your focus I believe is a little off, it might just be the extreme crop, but it appears to me that the branch behind him is in sharper focus.

I played a little with this image in PSE 11
I removed some of the noise, then I ran a levels adjustment on it and upped the contrast just a bit. I backed the saturation down just a little because I thought it would help make him more realistic. I then opened a new layer at the top. Holding down the option and right clicking I chose merge visible. Then I went to enhance ran unsharpmask. Set the blend mode to luminosity. I also sharpened the eye a little more by selection and making a copy of it ran highpass filter at about 5-7 and used a hard light blend mode. I also gave it a square crop.

My vision

oldtool2 Loc: South Jersey

Country's Mama wrote:

Now this shot is much better composed. You have th... (show quote)

Country's Mama,

I often use the rule of thirds but do not restrict myself to it. On this shot I thought it worked well.

This photo kept you busy! I like what you did with it but it just goes to show, I have a lot to learn!

I used a program called Zoombrowser that comes with Canon cameras to check my focus and it is dead on the eagles chest, right where I wanted it. I agree though, the branch is sharp and is slightly distracting. I'm not sure what I could do about it though.

As for cropping, I normally use the "use photo ratio", but I do like your square crop. I am going to have to start playing with it more often!

Thank you for all your work!

Jim D

Bmac Loc: Long Island, NY

oldtool2 wrote:

I used a program called Zoombrowser that comes with Canon cameras to check my focus and it is dead on the eagles chest, right where I wanted it. Jim D

You may wish to focus on the eyes of the animal rather than the chest, because that is where the viewer's eyes are generally taken to.

I do not believe the eagle is sharp enough for the tight crop, and I personally feel that the composition of the first is more pleasing. 8-)

Country's Mama Loc: Michigan

oldtool2 wrote:

Country's Mama, br br I often use the rule of thi... (show quote)

Why did you want the focus on the birds chest. Usually when shooting anything with eyes you want the focus on the eyes.
This is a good article that talks about why you should focus on the eyes.
http://galenleeds.com/2012/10/09/focus-on-the-eyes-really/

oldtool2 Loc: South Jersey

Using the same photo, I PP it using LR instead of PSE. I also used a square crop. which do you like better? Your thoughts please.

In order to show how much this photo was cropped I have also added the original.

Jim D

Country's Mama Loc: Michigan

oldtool2 wrote:

Using the same photo, I PP it using LR instead of PSE. I also used a square crop. which do you like better? Your thoughts please.

Jim D

I think you managed to bring out some of the detail in the white head feathers with your pp. I personally like the square crop for this image because it gets rid of the extra branches that add nothing to the image. I do have to agree that the crop is too tight in that you lose too many pixels when cropping this much and lose quality in the image.

oldtool2 Loc: South Jersey

Bmac wrote:

You may wish to focus on the eyes of the animal rather than the chest, because that is where the viewer's eyes are generally taken to.

I do not believe the eagle is sharp enough for the tight crop, and I personally feel that the composition of the first is more pleasing. 8-)

I wish I was able to get that close! Unfortunately that rarely happens with eagles in the wild.

Jim D

Nightski

oldtool2 wrote:

I wish I was able to get that close! Unfortunately that rarely happens with eagles in the wild.

Jim D

Eagles are tough. They are smart, and they are wary. GeneM told me to bring some fish and set it somewhere where you would like them to land. Then he got all scared that he might have told me to do that in bear country. Funny. But next year, I am going to spend a day by my Eagle's nest with a bag of fish.

I like the square crop.

Country's Mama Loc: Michigan

oldtool2 wrote:

Using the same photo, I PP it using LR instead of PSE. I also used a square crop. which do you like better? Your thoughts please.

In order to show how much this photo was cropped I have also added the original.

Jim D

That IS a major crop. :shock:

oldtool2 Loc: South Jersey

Nightski wrote:

Eagles are tough. They are smart, and they are wary. GeneM told me to bring some fish and set it somewhere where you would like them to land. Then he got all scared that he might have told me to do that in bear country. Funny. But next year, I am going to spend a day by my Eagle's nest with a bag of fish.

I like the square crop.

This particular nest is posted to keep people at a set distance away. On occasion I get lucky and they fly my way, but not often. I don't think they would allow baiting them.

Jim D

Nightski

oldtool2 wrote:

This particular nest is posted to keep people at a set distance away. On occasion I get lucky and they fly my way, but not often. I don't think they would allow baiting them.

Jim D

Gosh, Jim, if you lived closer I'd take you out to my wild eagle's nest. They've been there every year for 15 years that I know of. I did plant some fish every day last spring to get them used to me. They were getting less skiddish.

Bmac Loc: Long Island, NY

oldtool2 wrote:

I wish I was able to get that close! Unfortunately that rarely happens with eagles in the wild.
Jim D

That's for sure, and I wish the same thing. :-D