Juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk

I was poking around in files from earlier this year and ran across a series of this hawk perched in a dead oak sapling I’d put up in the back yard. I’d processed (and I think, posted) one with it looking straight at the camera, but had never processed a profile, so I decided to do so. This is the result.

What technical feedback would you like if any?

The face was shadowed in the raw file, so I did quite a bit of dodging and some luminosity adjustments to bring out the face and shoulder more-does it still look realistic? I also cloned out a couple of branches at the bottom and removed a twig on the left.

What artistic feedback would you like if any?

Anything.

Pertinent technical details or techniques:

7DII, Sigma 150-600 C @ 600 mm, hand held, f/8, 1/800, iso 1250, manual exposure. Processed in LR & PS CC. Cropped from a horizontal original to 2382 x 3096 before resizing. Taken at 4:19 pm on August 25th.

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5 Likes

Excellent detail, pose, head turn, and BG.

Looks good. Nice pose and great detail. Maybe remove the green spot above the head?

Excellent portrait of the young sharp-shinned.

My type of shot–artistic and diagnostic. The BG is buttery smooth and goes well with the plumage oif the hawk. Well done…Jim

This is simply superb, Dennis. The dodging on the face is excellent.