Robe lake (at Valdez, Alaska) was freezing up but there were quite a variety of birds taking advantage of the last available fresh water in the area. Because there were still a few spawning, almost dead salmon swimming around there was a Bald Eagle standing on the grassy shore next to the swans and ducks. I was zoomed in with the 100-400, trying to get decent shots of the swans when I noticed that the eagle was preparing to leave (squirted) so I went wide to get as many birds in the frame as possible. I caught a few shots as the eagle flew low over the other birds which made for a somewhat unique scene. This was my favorite of those shots. It was a split second choice to go for a wider angle shot and I’m wondering if others think it was a good choice or if I should have stayed zoomed in for a closer view of the action.
I like your choice to go wide, Gary. There are plenty of close up shots of eagles in flight, but not that many scenes like this. You might want to think about minimizing the dark upper area that doesnt seem to add much interest to the image. When I look at it, I think about dodging that line of trees on the far shore that seem to have a nice red tinge and cropping to about their tops for a pano presentation.
I think this is fantastic Gary, beautiful comp including all those different species, even got a few mergansers too. My only thought is you could probably take a bit off the top and/or the bottom if you wanted to.
I like this, and I like the cropped version even better.
Fabulous, sharp image, and it is really unique, as you just don’t see this combination of birds very often!!!
The lighting was lovely, and it is a great capture of the swans, much less getting that eagle in there.
Nice one!
