Osprey/Eagle battle

Another photo from a recent shoot, showing a juvenile White-bellied Sea eagle trying to dodge the incoming Osprey. I had to blow out the BG in order to expose the birds. Hopefully there's enough interest with the birds.

D500/500PF, 1/3200th [email protected], IOS1600, manual mode HH. processed in ACR, PS and TPAI. Cheers.

Sorry Paul it doesn't work for me, the birdsappear disengaged, the sky pulls my eyes from the subjects and more importantly the main subject does not really show the detail I am hoping for.

Paul:

I love the pose of the eagle, quite unusual. Yes, the white background does make the image a bit sterile. Did you try to mask out the birds and adjust their exposure separately? It might be fun to see a copy of the original file, to see what you had to work with.

Randy

This is an unusual frame in that seems impossible to capture both birds in focus and in such weird poses. Unfortunately, I agree with Jon about the disengagement. Through no fault of yours
the awkward contortion the eagle shows really confuses the frame. The other image of these subjects made much better sense, if that makes sense.

Thanks Jonathan, Randy & Dorian...appreciate the feedback.
Jonathan/Dorian: Funny, for me they don't seem disengaged...in fact, the Eagle trying to avoid the Osprey with its unusual pose is what attracts me to this image, and so for me there is an engagement between the two birds. Different strokes I guess. Both birds look focused to me, or are you saying they're not?
Jonathan: Again, for me, the sky has the opposite effect, in that my eyes are drawn to the birds.
Randy: Thank you...I too love the pose on the eagle, and yes, I did try masking the birds and adding some blue to the sky, but I didn't like the final result...possibly taking more time to do it may have helped, and I might give it another go anyway.

Update: here's a version with the birds masked and the sky bluer.

The repost is to my eye very much better, the detail appears to be much improved in the eagle and I prefer the sky colouration.

Cheers Jonathan:cheers:

Paul:

For me the repost is certainly a good step in the right direction. It appears more "natural" to have some blue in the sky. I might consider reducing the exposure in the sky by .25 to .5 of a stop, to give it a bit more impact without looking overdone. The eagles nictitating membrane appears to be closed, giving low contrast and detail on the eye. Worth a try to increase the color saturation and a little more contrast to help it look better.

Cheers

Randy

Hi Paul ... sorry to say no version does look appealing to me .
1st the sky looks boring and the second shows ton of noise in the subjects ...
I quite like the action but wish the left bird would have covered less of the second bird .

Always worth the effort and try it ... deleting if not the best stuff is easier :bg3:

TFS Andreas

The image has a big YELLOW color cast. I am surprised Andreas did not do his usual magic on it. So I tried and did some eye doctor work as well on the eagle, and a bit of work on the sky.

with love, a

Thanks so much Artie...I like what you've done!