Cooper's Hawk

![Cooper’s Hawk]




I was lucky to have a juvenile Cooper’s Hawk hang around and go through some morning stretches. I typically don’t do a lot of bird photography but I take advantage when the opportunity presents itself. This is in a local woods close to my home . I try to go for a walk through the woods each morning before work since working from home (Ontario Canada).

It was difficult to get a clean background as the bird was fairly high up in a tree. However I was able to move up a small hill near the tree to get a better vantage point.

Specific Feedback Requested

I enjoyed the different poses of the bird. I like the one stretching with some of the wing feathers sticking out but also like the gaze of the image with the bird crouched and looking more into the camera.

Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
ISO 2000, F7.1, 1/800 at 400mm (70-400mm lens). Significantly cropped and processed with Topaz Denoise AI, Sharpen AI and upscaled in PS.

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A very cool opportunity. As you note, the BG isn’t all that clean, but getting on a hill to decrease the angle was a good idea. I personally like the second image best. Love the fluff and the stare.

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An excellent series of images, Bryan and the background in these doesn’t bother me a bit. It’s such a mesh that it all blends together into a texture with no particular branch drawing my attention. My only suggestion would be to increase the contrast (or use a curves layer) on just the bird. It feels just a bit washed out to me. I love the poses.

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A cool triple, Bryan. I wondered what was happening in the first shot, a different strtetch . The second shot with the intense curiosity at the camera is very nice. Not really bothered by the web of twigs and branches either.

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thanks for the feedback. I’ll take a look at this when I get a chance; busy with the day job right now. I may have lost some of the contrast when I brighten the image. I tried to expose for the bird but not blow out the sky using some in camera exposure compensation and some post processing mostly in LR and a bit in PS.

I added a bit of contrast and a touch of clarity on the hawk in LR via an adjustment brush. Just enough to give a bit more punch to the image. I think it still looks fairly natural and not over-processed.

I think that did it, Bryan. That tool is one of my favorites. I was at a presentation several years ago where a photographer talked about using that tool to put the finishing touches on an image and add a little light and warmth where you want the viewers eye to go. It works amazingly well.

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