Wedgetailed Eagles

[DavidM]

These were taken in the Kalamarina Wildlife sanctuary in South Australia.

An eagle flying high


IMG_3254_edited-1 by Davidmorton2009, on Flickr

An eagle flying low


IMG_3261_edited-1 by Davidmorton2009, on Flickr

Here's one that is a failure, but tells a story, two kites disputing air space with a wedgie
Any advice on how to save it would be welcome


IMG_3253_edited-1 by Davidmorton2009, on Flickr
Last, for a change, some pelicans


IMG_3265_edited-1 by Davidmorton2009, on Flickr

C&C most welcome.

As part of this trip I did a flight over Lake Ayre so I will be boring you with more picture when I get a chance to process them

[Dave Humphries]

Hi David,

I can't get to the EXIF data here, or on Flickr, can you tell us please?
Also, how much cropping did you have to do?

Ahead of that, my immediate guess is camera shake and subject movement causing blur in all of them caused by too low a shutter speed and/or over-cropping.
Add to that possibly bad panning technique and/or the focus point 'missing the bird' at the critical moment.
I feel your pain, I have been there and have the T-shirt, further, at extreme distance I still take shots like this myself, but limit them to identification usage only.

Any advice on how to save it would be welcome

You could try Focus Magic, but to be honest, I think this one is too far gone for rescue.
For one thng, you have three birds at different heights from camera, so only one ever stood a chance of being sharp enough anyway without using f/16 or f/22 (and that'll soften it by diffraction).

You also have a fair bit of sensor dust that needs cleaning off, but for now, should have been cloned out in PP.

One more question; are you shooting RAW?
I could have a go at one if you like, to see if my greater experience at sharpening up (my) duff bird shots helps.

Cheers,

[DavidM]

Thanks for the comment.

The EXIF is

ISO 400
shutter speed 1/400, in retrospect, maybe too slow.
Aperture varied from 16 to 20 (shooting in Tv mode)
Focal length varied from 140 to 250 using a 90-300 mm lens, no IS.

I cropped by about 15-20% in length
Yes I do use RAW.