Abo

I suspect you are shooting at high ISOs... which produce noise which obliterates fine detail.

"Denoising" either in camera or post processing won't bring back detail as fine as feather filaments.

Shoot at your cameras native ISO and problem will be solved as long as you are in focus
and the shutter is fast enough to stop movement blur

ChristianHJensen

That actually made a bad shot worse

jpwa Loc: Inland NorthWest

Your metadata shows that the picture was captured at about 1:30PM which is not a good time to be taking pictures of anything outside. Plus the sun appears to be coming from behind and above the bird as demonstrated by the white tail feathers. To improve your pictures of BIF I would suggest that you take pictures in the "golden hour" and that the bird be heading into the light, in other words the sun should be behind you. Just a suggestion. Happy shooting. Keep at it :)

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

I shoot a lot of wildlife images, including BIF shots. Shooting action wildlife can be a challenge for anyone. I recently wrote an article for a website called Nikonians on this subject. There are a lot of factors that go into play in wildlife photography, as well, of course, as in other genres of photography. Since I am often shooting wildlife in low light situations, early morning and late afternoon, I most often use an aperture of f/5.6, the max on my long lens. I also use this aperture to have sharp focus only on the bird or other animal. I also most often shoot at a minimum shutter speed of 1/2500 to 1/3200 of a second to get the action sharp. Sometimes I'm in manual mode and other times in Aperture Priority mode. I am generally shooting at a very high ISO, up to about 5000 ISO (I use Topaz DeNoise on high ISO shots). All of this depends, of course, on the situation at hand. One thing that really helps with action wildlife shots is a steady hand or a steady tripod (I use the tripod with a sidekick if using my Nikon 200-500 lens but often handhold when using my Nikon 500PF). Part of the process is watching the birds first to see what they do and where they go if it's a situation where you can do that. Also watching for the bird's "tell" is important if you want in-flight shots. If the bird is too far away for your lens the shot just will not be good, but it can be good practice anyway. If you can, single out a bird and wait for it to take off and then start shooting quickly as it flies its path, don't stop until the bird is out of range or showing its backside...this will give you possible shots to choose from. Wildlife photography, like any genre, is an acquired skill. Also, group focus on the Nikon works great as long as it is not competing with any other subject in the overall image, then you would need to change the focus to single point.

JeffDavidson Loc: Originally Detroit Now Los Angeles

The eyes are most important. Some of the feathers look blurry due to camera movement or too slow of a shutter.

Orphoto Loc: Oregon

Especially with image #1 - my perception is that the wings/feathers are in fact in focus. I agree with the others as to methods of bringing out more details.

flyboy61 Loc: The Great American Desert

Absolutely! in this case, photographing a smaller, dark subject against a much brighter background fooled the meter. They are wonderful, but sometimes, they can be misleading. Tight Center- weighted metering or Spot, AF C, follow through...don't stop the camera motion until after you press the shutter release.

angie Loc: Southeast Alabama

When Stan and I were in Minnesota I only saw the bald eagle sitting in trees and on the ground. We were in canoes, my problem was that I wasn't allowed by the husband to bring my good Camera. I've flipped from the Nikon to an Olympus omd m1 Mark II. My question is is there insurance for camera's due to loss ?

ozoni11 Loc: Columbia, MD

Most of my photography is wildlife. Birds in flight is my specialty. When you have white feathers as a bald eagle does and sunlight reflecting off of the feathers, exposure compensation is probably the most important thing to use. Typically, I shoot bald eagles with a Nikon D500 and a Nikon 500mm prime lens (pf). I usually shoot aperture priority 7.1 giving me a shutter speed of 1/1000...enough to freeze an eagle in flight. Depending on how high and bright the sun is and whether or not clouds are blocking some of the sunlight, I set my exposure compensation to -0.7.

10MPlayer Loc: California

Post processing won't help this image. The data isn't there. I suspect the photo is taken from a long way away and is heavily cropped. The shooters that get those amazingly detailed bird shots get very close to the subject and have the best glass available. They use blinds to get closer and lenses that cost as much as a mid-priced car. My best advice is get closer and use great glass. If you can't afford to buy it rent one for a few days. It's not that expensive.

Nalu Loc: Southern Arizona

You are going to have better results either early in the AM or evening. Overhead light just does not make for good flight photography. If you can, go out at daybreak with the sun at your back.