F-20 Eagle missille

Spectacular! Congrats! =)

 

Regards,

 

Patrick

Simply excellent. I think you were very lucky in that moment shot. Congratulations for your work. 7/7

Dean, I for one believe your shot is real, not to mention fantastic. I'm also willing to publicly certify it as real if you will send me the RAW file. As the RAW is quite large, you could post it on an ftp for DL.

 

Regards,

Alan

 

 

Like Alan and others said, what a brilliant 'once in a lifetime' image.

 

I find it irritating and strangely amusing to see all the attention on whether this is 'real'. Years ago I posted an image here, and the conversation twisted to subtle accusations of fabrication. At first, I didn't really understand, as I wasn't privy to the extent of artistic creation on this site. After all, would some people actually fabricate a nature image, just to get extra attention? Sadly, I later learned that this was indeed the case, in some circles. However I still like to assume that all carry the same ethical yardstick that I do, until proven otherwise.

 

You have now proven yourself to be more than a fashion photographer. Or are birds in water just an overlapping sideline?

 

Cheers,

 

 

Dave

 

 

 

http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/yourshot/selects/0706/select2.html

 

This picture is selected as top shot for Jun and its published in "National Geografic Magazine"

 

I'm very happy :o)

amazing shot, you were absolutely lucky to get 20D focus on this guy, the splash and trajectory are all consistent with what I have seen from eagles diving, people who say this is PS are BSing! they have never seen an eagle dive for fish from close proximity...excellent shot 7/7

I saw the photograph in National Geographic i had to share with everyone and see your other pictures! Absolutely amazing i love taking pictures of raptors they are so dramatic...this is the best i haver ever seen!!

This is so good, I couldn't take my eyes off the image. This is what I strive to capture someday! Congratulations on such a breathtaking image.

 

deb

This is one heck of as hot Dean!

I have been reading all the "is it - isn't it real?" posts. Well, IMHO, the actual shot may or maynot be genuine shot - I think it is. But one thing I can definitely say, is this eagle is a trained, captive bird.

 

If you zoom in on the bird's feet, you can clearly see an anklet and jess (leather equipment used in falconry) on it's right leg. The real give away is what the eagle has in his feet - a dead, yellow, day old cockerel chick. These chicks are the staple diet for falconry birds and not something a wild eagle would eat in the wild. Honestly - an adult Bald Eagle catching a day old chick!!

 

Lastly - look at the bird's primary feathers. Almost all of them are broken. This is classic feather damage of a trained bird which is blocked (tied to a raised perched by a leash about 4' long.) This damage would NEVER be seen in a wild bird. It is caused by the bird repeatedly bating.

 

So yes, this photo is probably real - but it is certainly not a wild bird. This is a trained display bird, taught to grab dead chicks from the water, which is why the photographer could shoot so close and knew exactly the right place to be to get the shot. It is still a cracking shot, though!!

 

By the way, I am a falconer and I fly eagles!

It is a shame this disscusions occure many times. Is it envy?? Is it 'hear the grass grow'? What is it? Very clear statement from my side: the photographer states it is original shot, there is no reason to go on discussion. It is unpolite, unfriendly, unprofessional and last but not least very offending for the photographer.

This is a very unique and genuine photography, I do not see slight manipulation here and the high praises are well earned. Pity this discussions about manipulation draws the focus from the brilliant work itself to the dump of manipulation!

Hat off for this shot, great Image!

Dean, This is an absolutely wonderful photograph. Tack sharp and you've done a wonderful job adjusting the colors and exposure to make the eagle jump off the photo.

 

Pozdrav iz Amerike!

Bare

Wow, that eagle is tack sharp. When I saw this in a National Geographic a few months ago my eyes popped. The combination of your luck and skill has created an amazing photo. Nice work.

... if it is real. I too have a hard time believing this is not photoshopped. The eagle does not match the background at all. Also, am I the only one that thinks the eagle looks like it has a hole in the middle of it's body? You can see it's head and feet, so what is going on inbetween it all, bad photoshopping perhaps?

no photoshoping , just another stupid comment ...

to publish in National Geographic Magazine you shoud send them a Raw file ( wich I still have off course for showing ) . And how much is the chance that NGM will publish photoshoped picture ? .... all that was cleared long , long time ago in discusion above .... try to be less ignorant at least ... you obviesly don't know anything about eagle anatomy or photoshop , you just have your false asumptions ,and you just imbaraced yourself for no good reason .... feel free to think that this is not real , its easyer that way ;-) .... cheers :-)

I see the position it is in now, no hole, just long legs - my apologies. You can't tell me the image does not look photoshopped when there was this much controversy over it though; and if we are going to start with the personal attacks, I think that spelling is more embarassing than my comment.

...I reckon that his english is better than your croatian. Am I right?

 

If I were him, I would be annoyed by now with all the "OMG PHOTOSHOPPED" responses.

 

Absolutely stunning shot.

Nick ... i'm sorry but this really starting to be anoying . you should also read the comments above when some things you sad are already cleared . sorry for speling but I'm not american and english is not my native language . here is the shot from same day one flight before when he missed the target ... hope this will clear this issue once for all .... i apologise if I sound nervous but really over and over answer to same things is really anoying ...NHF

i mean no offense by this, but the photo does really look like its been photoshoped. i think its just the adjustments you made to it. i also noticed in the last photo that you posted that there were water drops in front of the eagle, yet there are none in front of in on this one. Amazing shot none the less. 7/7

How come the bird is outside of the splash?

because it is about 1,5m or so in front of the contact point with watter ... in last one with spread wings eagle was much closer . that was was almost at contact point . eagle hit the watter with spread wings then fly away. when he has wings in this position he was away from the water . he is very fast much faster then water splah . thats also why the splash is so big because there were enough time to water splash develop ...... any more set of questions ? :-)))) .. i still got RAW file ....

Beautiful... an inspiration for any photographer

one of the best eagle captures I've seen nice shot 7/7

!

 

a w s o m e!

A tremendous image

 

Adam James

Photographers in Birmingham

http://www.springupphotography.co.uk