Fly Like An Eagle w/Repost

Repost

Original

In all truth, this was a grab shot. I was testing a Fugifilm X-H1 and 100-400 f/5.6 lens at a wildlife refuge. As I was returning to the car, I spotted this beautiful eagle flying towards me. I just grabbed the camera and hit the trigger hoping for one or two good images. I am not a bird in flight kind of photographer. I just don’t have the knack for it. But fortunately, this one turned out. At least the head/eye was sharp.

Specific Feedback Requested

Any comments appreciated.

Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
Fujifilm X-H1, XF 100-400mm, 1/1600 Sec @ f/5.6, ISO 200, handheld (Image Stabilization in camera and lens).

This is a significant crop of about 60%.

As a non-BIF person, too, I say great catch. Do I detect a bit of a cyan cast here? Looks greenish to me - possibly some fringing is making it look that way? Eagles look so determined no matter what they are doing, so that expression makes this look even more fierce.

You’re probably right, @_Kris. I should have you color check all my images before posting. :smirk: I hate being red/green color blind. When I used to do wedding photography (a horrendous, agonizing, terrible occupation) I always had to have my wife check my color balances to make sure I wasn’t sending out green or sunburned faces…

Update is posted above. Any better?

A pretty good Bald Eagle in-flight shot, David. Eagles in bright sunlight are difficult to shoot due to the huge contrast between the dark wing feathers and the bright white head feathers. You did good on this one although I think you might be able to coax a little more detail out of the shadows. As for color, I think the original is right on the money. The rework actually has a yellow cast (at least on my monitor). The large version is a little soft and could do with a little bit of sharpening before posting.

1 Like

Hi David
I think the original is a better match to the correct color balance. Very nice looking Eagle. I work very hard to get this kind of photograph. I down loaded the original into DXO Photo Lab and had it set the color balance and I also reduced the blue sky’s saturation and razed the shadows a bit. Hope you like with post.
Peter

Thanks @Peter, you really made this one pop. Now I’ll have to spring for DXO Photo Lab :grinning: thanks for taking time to improve the photo.

Gary thanks for your comments. I’ve followed your work for years and appreciate your input. I’ll look at adding a bit of sharpening to the original.

The original was best for sky color; the RP has a yellow cast, which is most easily seen on the white head. Using the WB eyedropper in the raw converter and clicking on an area that should be neutral (if there is one) is the best way to look at WB adjustments. Any sort of auto adjustment has to assume some range of average colors. It can sometimes be helpful to give you a different look, but is very rarely accurate. The more monochromatic a subject is, the more it will be off.

The best way to get accurate color is to shoot a dead-accurate gray card in the exact same light that was on the subject, neutralize that shot with the eyedropper and sync that WB over to your image. Then tweak to taste!! After neutralizing the WB with this image the sky was too saturated. Lowering the saturation of blues and cyans a bit tamed it nicely without any further color changes.

I probably would have accomplished the same thing (but better) by raising the overall exposure, as @peter did. I was concerned that might blow out the head, if done in the raw conversion, but could probably be dealt with using the shadows and highlights sliders.