It seems that I’m always traveling to find Bald Eagles, but I was taking a local road a couple of weeks ago and saw a large number of them in trees along one of our local estuaries. I mentioned it to a friend who’s on the board of the local Audubon Society and he told me the Christmas bird count came up with 150 in that area. I wrote to one of the local land owners and got permission to photograph from his property. Unfortunately, I didn’t see this phenomenon until the tail end of the salmon run that the Eagles had assembled for. I managed to get out there in decent light this morning, but there were probably no more than a dozen eagles hanging around hoping for a carcass to show up as the tide went out. I did get a few decent flight shots and some other birds that I liked, but this one perched in a very typical Northwest coastal habitat really appealed to me, so its the first one I’ve processed.
What technical feedback would you like if any?
Anything you notice.
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Anything.
Any pertinent technical details:
7DII, Sigma 150-600 C @ 600 mm, tripod with ball head, f/8, 1/400, iso 1000, manual exposure. Processed in LR & PS CC. Topaz AI Clear for noise reduction. Cropped to 8.9 MP. Taken at 11:10 am.
You may only download this image to demonstrate post-processing techniques.
I also love Eagles and yours is sharp and crisp and the leading lines of the branches bring your eye right into the bird. You might want to consider to crop a little on the left side so the eagle is a bit more above the mid line of the image. Just a little to bring the bird up closer to the viewer (I understand the limitations of cropping too much and getting a blurrier photo so watch for that). I like to think about "taking out what I don’t need " in an image - the Eagle is the subject and the crossed limbs are crucial to the image as is the green foliage - but the left side of the image could be shaved a bit and perhaps make it a stronger image. You still want space for the eagle to be looking into the image but try playing with your crop. I also like your write up and that you asked permission to go on the owners land. really nicely done - thanks for sharing
This is a nice environmental image with enough break in the busy foliage/limbs to give a clear view of him. The Eagle looks nice and sharp. The crossed limbs really add to this, I think and it’s a nice composition. Love those stern looks from Eagles! 
I really like this. The BG brambles are just OOF enough. The eagle looks great, and the composition works very well. My only nit is that I am not a big fan of the limb that is in focus and coming into the foreground on the right of the bird.
