Red Shouldered Hawk

Image Critiques Avian Critiques
1

Red Shouldered Hawk
Red Shouldered Hawk1500×2000 1010 KB

I swung through Myakka State Park at midday on a very hot and bright summer day. More in hope than expectation.
Just off the bird walk parking, right at the start of the trail, there it was!
I had my Nikon D700 with the 200-500 zoom all ready to go, but I didn’t want to scare the hawk by swinging that around. So I took out my pocket Sony point and shoot, and this photo is what I got. Later I took some shots with the Nikon as well, I will post the best of those in the comments for comparison.
The background was very bright, I knew the bird would be one stop underexposed – it was. It did not worry me, underexposed information can always be retrieved. Or so I was told.
It was difficult to get a catchlight in the eye, this image was the best of the lot in that respect.

Specific Feedback Requested

What would your exposure strategy be for this situation?

Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
1/250 at F6.3, ISO 500
Sony DSC-HX80
41-123 zoom at 73mm

dooswyn
2

Red Shouldered Hawk-3
Red Shouldered Hawk-31499×2000 1.15 MB

For comparison:

Taken with Nikon D7000 1/250 at f5.6 ISO 1600
200-500 zoom at 290mm handheld

3

Well, Pieter, that doesn’t look bad to me, with a P&S camera… the images have come out pretty nicely ! Cool bird and that it’s a bit dark suits the environment I guess. Any Dutch relatives that I may know :wink: ? Cheers, Hans

4

Nice catch, Pieter. The result for the point and shoot came out pretty well, though the quality of the optics becomes pretty apparent with the heavy blue fringing in the background. I think you could bring the exposure up a bit on the hawk in the second image. Nicely done.