F-20 Eagle missille

Wwwwwwow!!!

As to low ratings - I suspect someone is running a bot giving low ratings to everything that shows up... It's their way to propell own ego.

Really amazing picture.

I saw somebody ask you is it photoshop or no, I have to tell you that I also have the feeling that the eagle is from another picture.

 

Actually I am not a photographer, but I am a web designer and I know no matter how hard I cut one picture, when I magnify very much I can see a light line around the object that I cut. Normally the pixels of the object on the edge are mixing with the pixel of the background.

 

So when I magnify your picture and I see that the eagle have the same line, I can not explain this in another way except that the eagle is from another picture.

 

Also have to tell you something more, the light in this picture is different, on the whole of the background you don't have even one dark place, only on the eagle have a lot, also in the different place of the wings should be different, especially on the edge of the wings.

 

Another thing is that the color on the eagle is too different from the background, it cannot happen only with the standard saturation and adjusting levels as you say, this can happen only if you make special selection only around the eagle to put it in another color space. Also the yellow and the white I think are created with mask only for some areas.

 

Anyway no matter how you make this it really gives pleasure, so that means it is valuable as a picture and have an art value and this is the only think that is important.

 

Regards

 

Wow Wow Wow!!!! Outstanding!

This really is an incredible shot. I wouldn't be too concerned about so-called critics worrying about compositing or PS work...they're just envious! I have a 20D and it has inspired me to search out more nature photos. Bravo!

Excellent shot!

Very fine shot dean, very nice asthetics here , the capture is great and the water splash is very fine. looks too natural to a shot taken in captivity, welldone, RK!

Excellent !!!.congrats.regards

you made very long and complicated analize but what can I tell you ?... you are wrong about everything you sad ... you can use microscope or whatever but this is straight from the camera and no montage or composite or whatever you want to call it ... its actually very funny how some ppl can't belive simple fact that is real shot ... i sad , i was probably very lucky and this is maybe one in the lifetime shot but it is straight shot with no photoshop enchancement except crop and color adjustment....

what I can do here is to give a link to biger version with original colors perspective and crop .... its kind a stupid that I should defend myself over this at all ... but ok ,here it is : now you can analize this if you want , but nothing will change the fact that this is real capture and i'm pround of it very much ...

 

http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/2326/eagleam4.jpg

This is a stunning shot. Like the poster above I agree that it has an unreal quality to it and looks like a composite. I take your word for it so suspect the problem with the haloes and the unreal appearance is oversharpening, in camera or after. Brilliant shot that for me would be the shot of a lifetime!

Very goog shots, is unmanipulate??

This is as good a nature action shot as it gets. Congratulations on this magnificent picture!

 

EC

Hey Dean, simply amazing jaw dropping shot ... what focussing mode were you in to get it so sharp and what were your aperture and shutter speed? Thanks.

A beautiful moment captured very well - and having read one of the comments above and I am glad it is a completely real shot with limited manipulation. Lovely and sharp too. Should be a popular one commercially too for stock agencies, etc.

Simply astounding!

that Atanas Atanasov is eating crow or eagle for his above remarks now? LOL!

Your portfolio proves that you are a very talented photographer. I think this photo is more than 'luck', I think it's skill. Very deserving of the #1 photo on Photo.net. Regina

there is nothing more to add and comment on this absolutely stunning image. a lot has been said already.

though i love the uncropped version better and felt the splash which everyone thought was so much in excess or made up in photoshop look larger as it all got compressed into a smaller frame!

 

7/7.....just perfect!

 

C

 

Quite original ! Yes Dean your luck was being in the right spot at the right time , thats the most difficult thing , unless one was to bait the animal as many do , then its not so hard . Fashion photographer ? You are a hoot Dean!

 

I give you credit for this shot ! Cool Shot! Congrats!

I do not believe it is stupid that you clarify whether this is a real shot or a composite, since the issue is not irrelevant at all. If just PS work, it would be just one more, if skilled, silly attempt at "the shot I would have loved to take (if I knew how)" of the kind we often see in this site, but if real then it stands out as a spectacular document, an outstanding shot worth of preferential display in, say, a wildlife magazine.

 

And also because it *does* somehow look like a composite, and the photo details reading that manipulation is "unknown or yes" would only tend to confirm that it is. To me that first impression would come primarily from the lighting and sharpness looking sort of "too good to be true". A bird at close quarters fying at speed straight towards the camera got flawlessly sharp with a telephoto? Could be, with a pretty high shutter speed coupled to an utra-fast autofocus, or to a most successful pre-focusing technique, or just crazy luck, as you said ... or perhaps by over-sharpening in PS? How did you manage it? And the lighting for the eagle is so uniform, even for what could be expected on a "bright cloudy" day, to reveal so well every detail in it, that it even looks as if soft fill-flash had been used, which is perhaps unlikely, so I would surmise that lightening of its shadows may have somewhat been overdone in PS.

 

I believe a shot like this, real as you claim, would require for the very sake of its success most limited and careful post-processing in PS so as not to detract in the least from its credibility. Then I could only congratulate you for such a great capture! Incidentally, I would also prefer the uncropped version, which seems to leave "more air" for the eagle to fly and gives some context as well as more depth to the image.

 

Curious what Dieter said about the 3 ratings. I had a similar experience (a pic getting its only two 3/3 even before it showed in the critique forum, truly a matter of seconds!), and after other observations also came to the same suspicion ...

ok lets go one by one ... weather was partially cloudy that day. i honestly can't remember at exact second when this was takes was it clouds ar sun . I guees it was cloudy but i didn't pay much attencion to the weather that moment . I was set AF to spot where he supose to hit the water . i have 4 pictures in this series and 2 of them are out of focus ( first and last ) 2 are fine ( luckly this one - most atractive ). About this diferencec in colors light etc , that is probably resoult of post processing . there are really dark areas on his feather where i tryed to get as much details I can in post proces , also i dodged water a little to get more clear drops . also when you compare 2 images you can easyly spot that I changed color on parts of the b/g that were originaly green to blue to get more clear b/g ...Did I oversharpned in post proces? In my opinion : NO .. picture look perfectly fine on the print .. I made 20x30 and 30x40 cm prints and sharpness in great . on some monitors like LCD could apear oversharpened ... In the end I still have that shot in my extreme III memory card in raw and at this point I'm preaty sure that this card will never be erased ... this is probably one of , if not the best shot I ever made ,so I will keep the original on the card ( there is also more good shots there - fashion and eagles ) . i already have enough witnesses in Croatia who saw that from my card and also 2 felow jurnalists and parc guard were with me when this shot was taken ...

p.s. I didn't mean to say that is no diference is it real or ps just its funny to me that I must explain and proove myself so much .

Ok, so the brightness-contrast post-processing is then the one to blame for the whole composite impression. With such diffuse light, without any harsh highlights or shadows, the sun must necessarily have been filtered by the clouds. THAT was luck, and trying to stretch it might actually ruin the shot in exchange for very little, since great detail in the feathers would be of marginal importance in an "action" shot like this, where power at work is the essential subject matter. Regards.

Very intense... leaves me without words... outstanding indeed. Wow.

I think it`s a most beautiful bird shot I`ve ever seen! You`re very lucky man!

Awesome! don't worry about some negative remarks, this shot is wonderful. regards

WOW! This is insane.