Looking for Assistance

[wegriffith3]

I was down at the river and caught this picture. I didn't have my shutter speed set right, so I didn't catch it how I would like. Is there anything out there that would sharpen this up? It's a special image, not often seen, and I'd love to get it cleaned up.



I had watched the eagle on the left swoop down and "torment" another eagle sitting on the cement ledge. I didn't know what I really had until I got home and zoomed in. The eagle on the right had jumped up and flipped over!



Thanks for any tips. This is the photo I've been waiting for!

[Dizzy]

Hi Warren,

Interesting shots, and good job capturing the fight...

We get (literally) hundreds of Bald Eagles here in the valley each year, as they
come to feed on the post-spawn salmon, of which there are a few hundred [stinking]
carcasses of on my beach right now. Hopefully they will show up soon, as the seagulls,
raccoons, crows, ravens, skunks and possum are just not eating them fast enough to
keep the stink down..

I use Lightroom 3.5, and did the best I could with both of them. The upside down eagle
is serious about causing some damage to the other bird, as that is why they flip over in order
to use their claws as aerial weapons. I've also seen them take ducks right out of the air in
the same manner.

According to the EXIF data, they were both shot at 300mm and ISO 1600, and I can
tell you've already cropped them a bit, so there really wasn't a lot of "wiggle room"
for added sharpening without creating excess noise. Still, the histogram looked good, and
adding some contrast and increasing the sharpness a little bit might have helped some.





Your shutter speed was 1/1500s, so you might have been able to back the ISO down
a bit, and use a little slower shutter, as most any speed over 1/400s-1/500s would probably be
sufficient.

Hoping that one of the other members using Photoshop will give them a try
also, as I'm just not that good with Lightroom (yet)..

Mike

[Donald]

Hoping that one of the other members using Photoshop will give them a try also, as I'm just not that good with Lightroom (yet)..

Nope. Unless someone comes along to prove me wrong, I think you've probably got it as good as it's going to get, Mike.

[wegriffith3]

Mike, thank you for the "fixes". The first photo is the original, with the second being cropped. Which program do you use to edit? I played with them with the available tools I have and could not get it as clear as you did. I am very impressed.

As for the slower shutter speed, I will play around with that the next time I'm down on the river. I just assumed that I would need a faster setting for the in-flight pictures. I had tried backing off on the ISO, to 800, and the pictures were too dark on this particular day, very overcast. The weather has not been cooperating much lately, and today they are calling for 3-6 inches of snow! Come on, it's still October!!

Thanks again for your help.

[Shadowman]

Mike, thank you for the "fixes". The first photo is the original, with the second being cropped. Which program do you use to edit? I played with them with the available tools I have and could not get it as clear as you did. I am very impressed.

As for the slower shutter speed, I will play around with that the next time I'm down on the river. I just assumed that I would need a faster setting for the in-flight pictures. I had tried backing off on the ISO, to 800, and the pictures were too dark on this particular day, very overcast. The weather has not been cooperating much lately, and today they are calling for 3-6 inches of snow! Come on, it's still October!!

Thanks again for your help.

I hope the trees have shed their leaves then. Don't want any power lines coming down due to the heavy snow.

[wegriffith3]

Hi John, sounds like you've been down this way. Today could make for an awesome picture of an eagle sitting in a tree with the snow coming down around it.

Which brings me to my question.....to shoot on a day like today, what is available to protect the camera? Snowing pretty hard, would be great for shooting deer as well.

How do you all protect your camera on inclement weather days?

[Shadowman]

Hi John, sounds like you've been down this way. Today could make for an awesome picture of an eagle sitting in a tree with the snow coming down around it.

Which brings me to my question.....to shoot on a day like today, what is available to protect the camera? Snowing pretty hard, would be great for shooting deer as well.

How do you all protect your camera on inclement weather days?

Warren,

It depends on what's coming down, if it's snow you can probably get by with keeping the body in a plastic bag with the lens slightly protruding through an opening. I try to keep the camera as warm as possible in winter to prolong battery life. With rain, you need a good overall cover especially if you wear eyeglasses.