Red-tailed Hawk

[Bobobird]

Having mentioned red-tailed hawk in another posting, here are some taken on 10/19.

He was properly framed while on the tree but took off and hit the ground close enough that one of the wings was clipped. Instead of abandoning the shot, I cropped out part of the left side to give it some sort of balance.

1.


The before and after ---

2.
In the tree.


3.
On the ground. Note the nictitating membrane closing over the eye (or opening).


Missed the take-off with dinner shots. Actually not, but all were of the butt-end.

4.
Enjoying his meal.


5.
Beak hygiene.


6.
Off to another perch to look for another meal. Normally I do not like the going away type shot but here I felt the almost 3d'ish feel of him turning and flying towards the further off trees was worth processing.

This is from an earlier sequence because he had decided to hunker down for the night. Light had faded so just left him be to enjoy his snooze. There is always another day...

[Rebel]

Great shots Bobo! The branch it's perched on in #2 does not look strong enough to hold it's weight

[IzzieK]

All nice shots, Bobo -- what lens did you use in these ones? I like #4 one with its catch but I cannot look at it good because I am having #1 breakfast...I like #1 for its pose and clarity. All of them are really good ones. I wish I could had confer with you before I went to Florida...

[Bobobird]

Thanks Matt. That branch is more than thick enough. May post a shot of him floundering on a branch that is really too thin to hold him.

Thanks Izzie. Lens is the Canon 400/f5.6. The person to consult about Florida is Joe, not me. But if you ever come up to Ontario, give me a shout.

[marlunn]

Most excellent set of shots - #1 has huge dynamic impact, very well captured given the circumstances - one day when I get a grown up lens I will have to look a the Red Kites we get here in Wales and see what I can do after your inspiring shots

[bnnrcn]

Great images

[Otavio]

Great shots. The Image quality is amazing, Bobo. On #1, especially, everything is so clear! Did you use any program like neat image/similar or it is the result of your (high level) gear itself + your post processing job? (sorry but I have to ask!)

Well done.

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[deetheturk]

Wonderful series Bobo, very well captured!

David

[chauncey]

Oh dear me...you make me wish that I was years younger so I could join you.
We could compare the superlative and the not so superlative.

[Nicks Pics]

Those are excellent shots. One thing I noticed about these is that all have such good depth of focus so that most of the hawk is sharp, though the BG is still OOF. You included a nice amount of the setting around the bird.

[Brownbear]

Hi Bobo,

Thank you for sharing. All exceptional as always. Indeed the IQ is amazing. At this moment my fave is #2 for the setting, intense eye contact, and gorgeous colours.

[JR1]

Show off

[FrankMi]

Despite the wing clipping, I like the intensity of the first one best. Sometimes, for example when shooting tall masted sailboats, the missing pieces aren't as important as getting the subject detail. Well done Bobo!

[Bobobird]

Thanks Binnus, John, David, Christina. Glad you liked them.

Thanks Mark. There is no need for a "grown-up" lens. Any reasonably long lens will do. For this series a 300mm instead of 400mm would have been a better fit with less of a possibility of clipping parts of the bird. As with any other "object" based photography, the closer the better.

Thanks Otavio. Glad you like them. Not much in the way of pp apart from the usual curves/levels adjustments, NR and sharpening of only the bird. Sometimes parts need to be removed for clarity purposes. Of course, compared to your great grip on pp, mine is nothing. I mess up more often than get it right. So much so, that the shot looks worse.

Thanks William. Younger? I will be 66 in a couple of months.

Thanks Nick. The 400/5.6 is not a great background blurrer but if we manage to position ourselves so that the b/g is further off it will produce the creamy effect. I am not a great fan of post-processed blurring which may look nice but gives off that "faked" look. In certain cases selective blurring is necessary especially for small parts/pieces of the background which are particularly distracting.

[Benjy]

Bobo,enjoyed viewing,well done ,great set of captures

[Bobobird]

Thanks Jeremy. Hmmmm. Does that mean I should stop posting?

Thanks Frank. I agree entirely. In this particular shot the bird would have been more central if I had not moved the focus point more to the right to put the bird in a better composed setting. The focus/re-compose thing is not particularly useful for birds. The risk is that if he suddenly takes off and you need him centered that is not going to happen and we just have to hope for the best.

Thanks Bernard. Glad you like them.