Pambo75

I'm a newbie but at a glance the last picture is by far the best. Personally if you know how to do it, a much darker sky would make the head show up better. I'm not good with photoshop but a nice stormy sky would be better than the white or the tinted blue.

SQUIRL033 Loc: Chehalis, WA

MUCH better! :thumbup:

Clay2

White head and white sky is a tough mix... I like several of your other eagle shots much better. Where is Palm Bay?

John Henry Loc: De forest Wis

Adubin,That is by far, the coolest shot of an eagle i'v seen in a long time .VERY NICE!!!! John Henry.

Robert Loc: Round Rock, TX

Much better

vorlon1

I think your 21% crop shows the majesty of the eagle more effectively than the closeup. The solidity of the stance, the body positioning and the look in the eyes, very effectively conveys that idea, in my opinion, as well as the graininess being drastically reduced and the image quality being much improved on that level. Very nice job.

frank bruce Loc: Albuquerque,N.M

personal opinion would be to have the bird fill @ least 2 3rds of the the total scene or some contrast between the whites. just the way i c it

NHRA NATL'S
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ddeufemia

When the finger that pressed the shutter release is pointed up to the sky it reminds me of what a baseball player might do after hitting a home run. Ya the photo is so fine that it transcends all the technical aspects that make it what it is. Some may be aware that what the baseball player did after the homer was a public demonstration of praise and thanksgiving for the talent that was given to them. Naturally all the above actions have their beginning in the psyche,or as our government says on our currency " In God we trust". The point is that photography can be very spiritual even Ansel Adams knew that.

alaskanfrog Loc: Alaska

some good tricks to creating blue sky effects is to use the "Quick Selection Tool" to outline your subject. Some people use this feature to create layers and modify the photos that way. I use it to color correct specific areas of a photo I'm enhancing, or color correcting. By selecting your foreground, or subject, you can color correct and enhance only the selected region. You can also right click on your selection and scroll down to the "Select Inverse" aspect of the selected item. Then the selection jumps to the background and everything else becomes ready for correction or enhancement. By color correcting in this way, you can avoid problems of color bleed, or "Chroma Effects" from trying to over enhance specific colors. In the photo of the eagle, the "Chroma Effect is evident by the bluish darker halo around the eagle head of the sky color you tried to enhance.

In Apple's Aperture, you can actually enhance specific colors of in specific areas of the photo without the need to use the "Quick Selection Tool." In aperture, by selecting only specific colors with the "eyedropper tool" only the selected color will be changed and enhanced. The results of being able to do this is nothing short of amazing and produce stunning photos. I use a combination of Aperture and Adobe Photoshop Elements9. Both have features that each program lacks. I mostly use Photoshop Elements for repairing my old family photos and Aperture to color enhance my photos. The windows version of Photoshop elements offers a few different features not available in the Mac version and is a little more versatile than the Mac version, but both produce very good results.

I don't think Apple makes Aperture for windows, and is intended for mac users only. I use both windows and macs. I prefer the mac for my photography, whether it's videos or still photography.

For most of my closeups (which aren't too many...) I have a 70-300MM telephoto zoom lens. Not very satisfying lens collection and my camera is somewhat lacking, but I make do. Any telephoto shots I make are only from a tripod because I like the way it keeps the focus sharp and clear. Handheld usually produces blurred images because I'm not steady on my feet. I have a 5 year old Canon Rebel XTi 400D-SLR. It's response time is slow and doesn't take very good action shots, so I use it mostly for outdoor photos, or portraits. Eventually as time and finances allow, I'll upgrade and trade over to an Olympus E-620. That's my dream anyway. Happy shooting and my your shutter finger never develop stutters... I had a stutter finger for years and tended to shoot repetitive and useless stuff... sometimes I still do. :)

James, from Alaska

Billybuzz Loc: Whiteford, MD

I also like the final picture. Showing the eagle on a natural perch adds a more natural appearance to a beautiful picture.

johnrennie Loc: North Florida

Just my opinion, but I really liked your original image. I preferred that cropping job and loved that you focused in on the eagle looking right into the lens. It definitely evoked an emotion. I even liked the washed out sky. The only negative thing was the graininess but it looks like you were able to resolve that with Topaz. I’d like to see the original image with the noise reduced. If the noise reduction software smooth’s it out too much you can always add a little sharpening to balance it.

Great pic!

johnrennie Loc: North Florida

One other comment. I liked the white balance on the full image more than on the cropped. Just a touch too much magenta on the cropped image. That's an easy fix.

Adubin Loc: Indialantic, Florida

I just got a chance to add to add a blue sky to this Eagle Photo using PS CS4. Feedback is appreciated. ADubin

Add a Blue to This Eagle Photo

alaskanfrog Loc: Alaska

in many cases, the best adjustments to any photo should only be minimal, unless you're trying to create a different effect for a dramatic flare. I agree with some of the other comment sharing, that the original with the cloudy background offered the most pleasing composition. this shot of the eagle without cropping is very nice. I think the original photo would be the nicest one and tells a definite story of what you saw. The huge bonus is the bird looking directly in your direction, very dramatic. The Bald Eagle is such an elegant, graceful and yet powerful bird... Eagles live in the trees and "fly in the CLOUDS" so it's fitting to have an eagle with clouds in the background. after all, it's not clear and sunny all the time. thank you for sharing.

I live in Alaska and we have thousands of Eagles up here, golden, bald, and several other different types of other raptor birds. However I rarely have the chance to go on road trips to photograph the wildlife. I'm in Alaska's largest city, Anchorage and sadly, I live the city life... THX again...

Adubin Loc: Indialantic, Florida

AlaskanFrog, Thanks for your comments. If I could ever get my wife to let me get up there by myself, I would be there in heart beat. Something time in the future, don't know when, we maybe taking another land tour and cruise to Alaska. Arnold