This hawk has been hanging out in this tree with some regularity, but usually with the light behind him. A couple of days ago I at least got some sidelight. He is always behind some branches so I don’t think I’ll ever get a great shot, but it’s fun to try for what I can get. The closest I can get is about 150 ft, and looking up a steep hill.
He is far enough away that I’ve tried a very long lens – the Canon 600 + 2X + 1.4X, for 1680mm. This is the full frame with a very small amount added on the bottom and left.
Specific Feedback Requested
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Canon R5, 1680mm, ISO 800, f/9, 1/250 sec. I’m experimenting with a Manfrotto fluid-damped head, but with this much lens I’m almost better with the Wimberley.
It was very clear and the raw file is very high contrast. I processed it with the method I recently found in @David_Kingham’s webinar on Rethinking Lightroom, and I was able to avoid bringing out noise in the darks and halos in the sky, which would have occurred with my previous processing method. After LR, into PS for NR, which was barely noticeable, then a bit of sharpening. Then I did some pruning of the busy branches, which was easy in the sky with no halos.
A nice result with such a long lens. As you noted it was a nice clear day or the atmospheric haze would have caused a lot of problems. Branches are not ideal, but hey… that’s where he was hanging out.
I think the image is lacking in contrast for the final result. I wanted to see a different look, so I took this into PS, added a levels adjustment layer and moved the blacks slider to 31 and the midtone slider to .92. I added a TK darks 4 inverted mask to that layer to the darks wouldn’t go too dark.
A tiny bit of dodging on the head/eye resulting in this.
Superb detail for that much glass (or any amount for that matter), Diane. I do like Keith’s version with the added contrast, though I tend to go with lighter skies-maybe because the moisture around here leads to lighter skies.
Thanks @Keith_Bauer and @Dennis_Plank – you’re right, contrast needed a boost. I was so excited to reduce the glaring light of the original capture and pull out some nice color (without touching Saturation or Vibrance except to tone down the blues slightly by lowering saturation a little) that I quit too soon. I’ve done basically Keith’s correction by adding a Curves layer and pulling down the middle slider, which didn’t hurt the darks too much, than adding a further desaturation of the blues to lighten the sky a bit.
Some day I’m going to figure out the TK masks. I’ve been neglecting a very useful tool.
An interesting shot, for sure. As noted, limbs aren’t ideal, but the detail at that focal length is impressive. It would never occur to me to use that much focal length! I like Keith’s repost. And here’s another vote for TK masks. I use them on lots of bird photos.
I like the perch. It makes one wonder how the hawk was able to land. I like the pushing the limit on the glass also. Good for you. Good detail and nice eye contact. I also prefer the darker version.
