The image shows a Bald Eagle with a branch it just cleaved off from the nearby tree. This image was originally shot as a horizontal as I was following the action but I cropped it into a vertical.
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The harsh midday lighting necessitated that I overexpose a bit so that there is still some detail underneath the eagle but this inevitably led to some clipped highlights on the trees. Not much that i can do about that but I wonder how distracting that is.
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Canon 1Dx
Canon 200-400 with internal x1.4TC
I like the composition/crop choice in this semi-minimalist scene.
To me the difference in the dark tones—seeing details in the darker areas of the tree trunks but pitch black for the eagle—is a little jarring. I’d think they’d play off each other better if the shadows could be brought up in the eagle.
I really like the action and setting here. I like the crop/composition and think the conversion to B/W works well both the extreme tonal range and for the very minimalist composition. I don’t remember what you’ve said in the past about your processing, but I’m curious if you tried to tame the tonal range a bit with a linear profile and the tonal sliders in a raw converter?
Hi Dvir
This is an interesting photograph. The only thing I would add to the comments, is cropping up one third from the lower frame would give the Eagle more of an impact.
Peter
Thank you for the reply Diane! I went ahead and re-edited the image with a linear profile (in Capture One) that helped extract a bit more detail in the highlights (Though inevitably the part of the tree that was getting the brunt of the sunlight remains burnt.
Does anybody else see some posterization in the newer edit? I don’t see it in photoshop but when I post it I see it which I imagine is due to the Jpeg conversion.
