zacksoccer

Thanks. Will do.

Sinewsworn Loc: Port Orchard, WA

Sometimes fog can be an element of the image. Adds meaning and mystery. Careful with your focus if this is what you might want...

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CamB Loc: Juneau, Alaska

Sharpness comes from the lens. A great lens has to ability to give you a super sharp file. Focus is a combination of the lens and the camera working together. People here have talked about newer cameras having eye focus. To me, that could be really nice but it still comes back to the lens. Focusing on the eye with a less than sharp lens won't give you a sharp shot, just a better focused shot.
I am not a fan of the example photograph. The top of the eagles head is over exposed. I live in a land of eagles. Sitting at my computer and looking out the window to my left I can see two eagles sitting in our eagle tree. Everyone around here photographs eagles. Most eagle pictures have an over exposed head and that fact makes the shots that are perfectly exposed the winners. Mr. Wells might have detail in the head in the raw file but by opting to wipe out any hint of sky has blown out the head.
I have never seen a real sky this white. It makes the shot look over processed and the eagle seem to be pasted on a white background. Yes, the picture is sharp but it is missing other things that it needs to make it amazing. I can't get past the white sky and the blown out head. To me the cropping also feels uncomfortably tight. The eagle is nowhere.

Sharpness is just one aspect of an amazing picture and most of the others are missing. Re-crop, bring down the highlights (and whites) to give this eagle someplace to be, and this file might be amazing. Don't get too hung up on sharpness. I would trade a little sharpness for an an eagle shot with a little more dynamic interest. It is sharp though.

MJPerini

Take a look at Imagemeister's picture with a now ancient Canon 80D ....this shows it can be done
But also look at the fact that he nailed the exposure, and the 'Gesture' is again about perfect.
While neither of these photographers can control the eagle's "pose" which is ever changing, what they CAN control is their position relative to the light,......and WAIT. They also have the mindset that if I don't get it today I'll come back tomorrow.
Here is another secret, Pros only show their BEST work. They spend more time waiting -for light, for the eagle , for everything to be right.
The average Nat Geo Photographer may spend Months on a shoot, for 8 or 10 pictures to make it to publication. These people would bring home the bacon with any camera they brought. Sure modern cameras help so why not, BUT it is all the unglamorous stuff that really gets the picture.
One last thing, a good question to ask yourself is "What do I have access to that others might not"
It might not be practical or affordable for you to devote the time required to shoot eagles, but there is SOMETHING that is both interesting and accessible to you where you DO ave access.
HCB said "Your first 10,000 pictures are your worst"
Think about what he REALLY means, it DOESN't mean that you can't have some great pictures among your first 10k, but that after 10,000 THOUGHTFUL pictures you develop a fluency in the technical side and a refined vision of the aesthetic side to be able to turn out great work on a more consistent basis.
Like "How Come the guy who buys a violin is a violin Owner, but anyone who buys a camera is a photographer"
With a Violin we ALL get how much practice it takes to be mediocre,(and you are STILL not a Violinist) but we somehow expect Photography to bee different.
My mentor Fred Picker, once Packed his entire view camera kit in his car trunk, unpacked it to ready to shoot , then did it 99 more times with a stop watch, because he missed a shot..... and partly because he was the kind of guy who enjoyed knowing that he would be the only one. But his real point was, ALL the little crap matters.
I'm sure he did not enjoy doing it, but I am certain he enjoyed 'having done it'

This long answer is because you had the guts to say 'this guy is better than me and I want to get better'
That attitude is the single most important asset for great work.
Go for it
Good Luck

MJPerini

PS Buy a copy of Jay Maisel's It's NOT about the Fstop

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Loooove "blank" backgrounds.
Laffing at polarized blue skies.

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rlscholl Loc: California

In general, sharpness (excluding motion related issues) is pretty much a lens / sensor (or film) issue. While some of the sharpest photographs ever, were taken by a form of mirrorless camera (i. e., a large format view camera), that doesn’t mean that such a camera is ideal for every situation, or even most situations today. While there are numerous reasons for preferring a modern mirrorless camera over a comparable DSLR;I don’t believe that sharpness, given comparable sensors and lenses, is one of them.

Haenzel Loc: South Holland, The Netherlands

You didn't understand what I meant. I was doubting the image shown being shot at 100 yards.....

I'm not buying anything new. I'm a Pentax shooter, not aiming for the latest greatest. It's harder to shoot a BIF with a Pentax but it gives me more satisfaction. I'm still improving my technique; I don't think my equipment is keeping me from getting better.

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Good to hear it. Thanks for clarifying.

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

Thanks !

revhen Loc: By the beautiful Hudson

Thanks. Glad SOMEBODY saw it as I did. Revhen

revhen Loc: By the beautiful Hudson

Absolutely! Think Robert Capa's D-Day photos. Complete mess. Incredibly powerful.

therwol Loc: USA

Me too. Well, almost blank. Taken with the lowly D850 and 70-200 f/4 VR lens. Plenty sharp for me, at least where it's in focus.

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Heeeeyyy !!! Thaz my tree and my crows !!!

therwol Loc: USA

Go out and look. They're gone! I stole them and shipped them to California!

(They're actually Band Tailed Pigeons. They showed up around my house last year for two days and then disappeared.)