Head on

[John Chardine]

Thought I'd post one from an amazing weekend with Bald Eagles at Sheffield Mills, Nova Scotia. We are very lucky to have such a shooting opportunity in our back yard. The eagles are fed dead chickens from local farms.

Small crop followed by standard post-processing.

Date: 6 February, 2011, Time: 1501h
Model: Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
Lens: EF500mm f/4L IS USM +1.4x, 700 mm
Program: Manual
ISO 800, 1/800s, f/6.3
Exp. comp.: 0.0
Flash: off

[Ian Cassell]

Wow, John! He really is coming right at you. It sort of makes you glad you're not a fish! The composition/lighting seems right-on to me and you couldn't ask for a better pose!

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Excellent John! I do have a question about the lighting, which to me seems perfect. The light seems to be soft(low contrast) which I would guess caused by a light overcast, or early morning with something diffusing the light. In any case the sky seems unusually blue, and cloudless, for such lighting. Just wondering. regards~Bill

[John Chardine]

Good question Bill. The image was made mid-afternoon on a winter's day (I always give the time of the exposure in the techs, just for this reason). The sun was getting low in the sky by then, was golden in colour and was behind me. The other factor is the snow- the birds fly over a field of snow and often, like this one, they are fairly low. So essentially you have this big, diffuse spotlight lighting up the underside of the bird and caused by the reflection of the ambient light from the snowy ground.

[WIlliam Maroldo]

Thanks for the quick answer. I noticed the time, but 1501h didn't mean much to be. I guess 15:01 military time would. What is the "h" ?
Anyway, the snow seems to be a very good reflector and diffuser, as opposed to water that is a good reflector but poor diffuser (wave patterns with bright highlights). In any case I see the influence pretty clearly now that you mentioned it, and without this vital factor I would have to rethink my ideas about high/low contrast light and its effects on avian photography. Thank you~Bill

[John Chardine]

Bill- It's short for "hours". Military time has no colon as far as I know. Anyway, we use this quite commonly in Canada but I can see how it might be confusing. I'll change the format- which is easy to do in Photo Mechanic which lets you program exactly how you want the EXIF data to look.

[Dawn Currie]

Whew! This one may haunt my dreams. Fabulous composition with great DOF.

[Steve Uffman]

Wooohoo! congrats on a great shot...headed to shoot Eagles Friday in Louisiana. A shot like this would be an absolute dream shot. setting a tough standard my friend.

[Lance Peters]

Nailed it - Big Congrats John - Love it!!

[Eric Virkler]

Great Shot John. Love the eye contact and wing position.

I'm not usually a fan of dead center framing, but for this shot it shouldn't be any other way. Well done.

Eric Virkler
Faces of Nature Photography
www.ericjvirkler.com (http://www.ericjvirkler.com)

[Ben_Sadd]

Love the sharp intense eyes and this really works with the centred composition. I would be tempted to clean the red spot (blood?) off the left talon if your ethics allow.

[Julie Kenward]

Holy smokes that is one awesome eagle image! Man, I agree...that might show up to haunt my dreams sometime! Love the wing spread but that face and the angle of descent really ups the drama.

[Johan Kruger]

super capture, love the expression. It almost looks like he was planning on having you for lunch

[John Chardine]

Many thanks for all the comments. I must say they are great subjects and really good for learning birds in flight technique.

[Peter Farrell]

Superb shot, John. I love the intense stare and everything else about the image.
Peter

[David Stephens]

Great pose and perfect exposure. I glad you didn't include any chicken carcus "prey."

[George Cottay]

Once glance at this and I was a dead chicken! Great shot.