A Few EIF(Eagle in Flight) Shots

[NorthernFocus]

Just posting up a few of the BIF shots from my Chilkat trip. Minimal commentary this time

Nos. 6 and 8 were shot with a Nikon D500/ AF-S 80-400mm VR, handheld. The rest were with a D4/500mm f4 VR, tripod mounted.

1) A classic passing shot. Note all the gaps in the primaries due to the feathers being wet.



2) And a classic clipped wingtip shot. I hate it when that happens. Decent light, nice BG, good position on the bird. And I blow the framing



3) Angling in. I like this one. The BG was already foggy so I added a slight negative vignette.



4) A good example of compression with a long lens. The bird on the ground looks much closer than reality.



5) Coming at you.



6) One with a BG that sets some context. Note the bird is looking up. It was chasing another bird but they were too far apart to frame together.



7) A natural high key image. This guy just lifted off from the river bank. The ground was partially covered in snow and it was lightly falling. Again I added a slight negative vignette.



8) And a nice shot of a really ugly bird. This is what I call a "dirty bird". Looks like he's been sweeping chimneys. They don't reach full mature colors until five years of age. At three or four the head and tail are turning white but look pretty bad in transition. Notice the eyes are also dark brown rather than the yellow/gold of the adults. Looks rather demonic. I normally don't even shoot these guys but I'm trying to be more open minded. Though looking at this one I think I'll close it back down...

[Mike Buckley]

Magnificent detail and context in this series!

[bnnrcn]

Great set Dan

[madcrow]

Fabulous, beautiful, awesome set of images. A very, very well done.

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[John 2]

Impressive as always. I particularly like no.7. There is a definite sense of mission in that bird's eye(s).

[IzzieK]

All of them with good sharpness and very nice...#8 looks like he has been from a fight...

[Wavelength]

Such a marvelous series.... just stunning...looking at the last one i thought of that evil bird in Stuart Little

[Donald]

2) And a classic clipped wingtip shot. I hate it when that happens. Decent light, nice BG, good position on the bird. And I blow the framing

Yes, very poor. Not at all the quality of image that we want on here!!!

Dan - I think that if 99% of us on here made that image we'd be shouting about it from the rooftops. A glorious set of images, yet again

[JBW]

loving it

[NorthernFocus]

Thanks for the kind comments and glad you all enjoyed the photos. I do like sharing these captured moments of Creation. I must say I've enjoyed processing this set of images more than I enjoyed shooting them.

Most of the images on this trip were shot with varying degrees of fog. It's been a learning experience and takes much trial and error to pull out detail while keeping the image looking natural. It's amazing how much detail can be recovered in some cases. But in doing so the BG/bokeh begins to do strange things. And if too much detail is pulled out selectively on the bird then the image begins to look more like a painting than a photo. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing but isn't my style. Now that I'm thinking of it, if I have time (prior to heading for NZ Monday night) I may do a post demonstrating what I just described.

[JBW]

look out for aftershocks.