Red-tailed Hawk Stare Down w/Repost

Repost brightening the Hawk:

Original:

Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo Jamaicensis), Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge, Ridgefield, Washington, USA

He won the stare down. I was about 12 feet from him. Not bothered in the least.

I know it’s a bit busy, but that stare just got me.

Specific Feedback Requested

Any comments appreciated.

Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
Fujifilm GFX 100, GF 250mm + 1.4, 1/100 sec @ f/10, ISO 100, Beanbag…

2 Likes

That look is intense and means business too, David. This guy looks to be in excellent shape from this fine image… :+1:
Saw one just today flying low over our home… :cowboy_hat_face:

Good color and detail and the pose with the stare makes the shot. I could see pruning the branch above its head.

That’s a great stare! He was being very cooperative with his pose too. Nice capture David!

Hi Dave,

That is an intense stare. I would brighten it up a touch in order to lighten the shadows slightly. Comp is a little tight, but 12 feet away suggests that this guy was offering you a frame filler for sure…Jim

Great shot, especially considering your credentials as a Non-Nature moderator :slight_smile:
Might stand out more if the bird is exposed a little more

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@Paul_Breitkreuz, @Allen_Brooks, @Steve_Kennedy, @Jim_Zablotny, and @Karl_Zuzarte Thank you for the great comments and suggestions. I will up the shadows on the bird a bit more. Thanks again.

I like the pose and the stare. Excellent job in the detail. Works well as presented but you could also clone away some of the branches coming out of the right side of the head. But then this is their habitat.

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Hi Dave
This Red-tailed Hawk has a personality. I guess one of the blessing of a fix focal length lens is the high quality image you have here, but to adjust breathing room, you have to move forward or walk backward. In this case I would not have risked the shot. Nice work.
Peter

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Excellent, David. I haven’t ever gotten that close to one, and you even managed to get an angle without a lot of intervening branches. I like the tangle of branches in the background as there are enough to create a sense of uniformity. I don’t think you need to bring up the shadows, but you could select the bird and bring it up a bit relative to the background.

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@David_Schoen, @Peter, and @Dennis_Plank thank you for the great comments. I took the Dodge brush to the hawk and posted a new version up in the original post. It does look better. Thanks again.

The facial features are much improved and the eye contact now makes it work so much better!

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The repost is a definite improvement, David. As David Schoen noted, the brightening of the eyes really helps bring out the intensity of the stare.

Stunning. I think you got a great shot of a great subject. I prefer the brightened one. It pops the subject forward and away from the background stuff which I have no problem ignoring. Now, if more than the perch branch had managed to be in front of him then maybe some photoshop magic. This to me, is a big time wall-hanger.

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The rework is really superior to the first. When you have so much detail, let it show through! Great job.

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