Spanish Imperial Eagle in pre-dawn light

[Gerald Kelberg]

This very impressive Spanish Imperial Eagle was early to come to the bait in front of the hide in Central Spain on a winter's morning. So, early that the sun was not yet risen and the sky had a soft pre-dawn pink.

I was using the Sony A9II and FE 200-600 at 600mm. Shutter speed was 1/800th second, wide open at f/6.3 and ISO 12800. I was pushing the ISO, trying to get enough shutter speed to catch the Eagle in flight.

Processed in LrC and PS. I would like to have achieved sharper detail, but I think the NR needed has diminished what sharpness there was.

Any guidance or suggestions on improving the NR and sharpening would be most welcome.

Thanks, Gerald

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gerald, the 'Enhace' has very much flattened out the image, you used too much, as per my previous image comment.

At 1/800 you have enough, its static, but if it was closer perhaps more DoF? Forget the ISO, its just a number, you can deal with that in PP.

having just come back from 'Africa' (non specific) I know the light but here is too pale you need a bit more. overall I like the framing. overall a few little tweaks and you are there, nice work.

TFS
Steve

[William Dickson]

I really like the comp and the crop. I feel that there is too much 'pink' on the bird. I like the BG colours and also the perch. I would sharpen, and have a look at changing the contrast/colours on the bird. I have never photographed any birds in this type of light, so maybe this is is how it looked at time of capture. Personally I would change it as said.

Will

[Gabriela Plesea]

Lovely capture Gerald,

Very nice composition and pose from the bird. And such beautiful light!

I personally love the colours... and background is awesome.

Yes it does look like you did a bit too much NR, I agree with Steve. You could go back to LR and reduce the percentage on Denoise, anywhere between 35 and 40 % should not harm the frame.

Never seen a Spanish Imperial Eagle before, what stunning bird...thank you so much for sharing, I enjoyed viewing!

Kind regards,

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Gerald ... a gorgeous looking subject , the Imperial Eagle .... very majestic looking with his pose .
Leaving the softness and missing sharpness aside I do like the overall shot ... nice colors , love the mix of pink and blueish soft color and tones .
Perch is ok ... not that spectacular , but as this is a set up one has to take what is offered . The two other perches aren´t ideal ... maybe remove one of them ??!!

TFS Andreas

[Jonathan Ashton]

Lovely shot as mentioned I would certaily repeat using less Denoise - have a look at Steve Perry on Youtube for Lr Denoise he gives a very good tutorial and offers what many would be counter intuitive advise which when you think about it and try it - well I reckon it's worth trying before rejecting out of hand. It's about the old conundrum use Denoiseand loose detail vs sharpen more and develop more noise so is there just one way or maybe another way of looking at this issue.