Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Let me first start by saying, that I am not a bird photographer, however, in the winter I tend to go out in search of them because in my area, its rather gray and gloomy. On this day, it was foggy and drizzly, I dropped my pup off to be groomed, and just drove around to kill time. This hawk was sitting on the electric pole, and was very comfortable with my car being stopped in front of it. After awhile, he decided to take off, and I just happened to get this shot. I do enjoy bird photography, but I’m afraid I’m not like some birder/photographers who know alot about the birds they shoot. But, I am learning.
Technical Details
You caught a wonderful pose, Judi. It looks like this red-tailed hawk just landed a double flip or something gymnastic like that. Detail looks very good. I’m not sure about the angle-horizontals don’t have to be horizontal depending on your angle, but it looks like it cold do with a little counter clockwise rotation.
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Great catch, Judi!! A lot of bird photographers would be delighted with a shot like this. And a great title!!
To me, the utility pole crossbar looks OK at that angle, as you could have been looking at it from one side. I’m not a birder so can’t really say about the bird’s pose, but it is possible the pose itself could suggest some rotation. It does seem to be standing up at an unusual angle – but geometric accuracy could be secondary to the fact that you got it!!
You caught a great landing pose and the detail looks good.
Thank you! He was actually taking off. Maybe he first stood and did that quickly as he was trying to dry off??
Judi, you had a split second to catch that “lift off” . Wonterdful timing. There is tension in the spread of the wings and the tilt of the tail. That all tells the story of what is about to happen. I have just one thought. If you had increased you f stop to f/11 for instane, or highter, I wonder if the trailing edges of the wings would be sharper. There is great detail in the feathers over all.
Hi, yes, f/11 would have def helped the wing ends be sharper. I just had it on shutter priority and it was like 6.3 I think by default. Sometimes I have to go to manual and make those adjustments, like changing it to f/11. Thank you again for your comment…it is appreciated.
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I keep coming back to look at this hawk again and again Judi. I love the pose here. Your timing was perfect for the jump to flight speed!
Thank you very much! I’ve never quite seen one in that pose, and it was lightning quick, I just happened to be shooting burst mode, and chuckled when I saw it. Chicken legs. :). It was a foggy/drizzly morning and all the birds just seemed to want to dry out. I could relate…. Thanks again!
