REDTAIL HAWK

I have been driving around looking for a perched Redtail for months. Finally, found

one yesterday and got this and a few others. Thanks for your comments.

Congrats on realising your dream, in capturing one of these.

The underwing lighting is great and I appreciate the distance and speed of this raptor. I would have liked to see just a little more definition in the plumage and a little more space on the left (as viewed) to accentuate the movement.

Well done though..................

Best regards

Right moment, right "pose"!

Best regards Kenneth!

PDE

Thanks Graham and Piere. Graham, I agree with you to a degree. I just really liked how a vertical crop framed this majestic raptor, but some more space makes sense.

Excellent Shot

 

Ali

Thanks Ali!

While I like the crop as is, just to point out the obvious, it would be relatively easy to extend it out in front of the hawk post capture due to it's uniform color. Well done.

Thanks Sigfried, for your comment. Usually, I'd agree with the extra space, and I played around a lot with crops on this long awaited shot. But as I said above, I just really liked how the vertical tighter crop framed itself by the wingtips. I am going to post another version later to see...

I personally like the vertical crop as well. My comment was in response to Grayham's. I have no idea if the original has more space to the left or not. If it doesn't and you would like it to, I was pointing out that you could clone in more sky to the left. It really depends on the viewing medium, on a screen I think it usually makes sense to go for a horizontal crop if possible due to the 16:9 format of most screens nowadays. If this is meant to be framed, I think I like the vertical crop better.

I don't know enough about photography to tell you why I think this is one of the best under shots of a hawk I have ever seen.....but I love it. It is too bad it took you so long to get it. There are a few here I chase down the road with my point and shoot from telephone pole to telephone pole on a regular basis, just hoping to get one decent shot!

Thanks Siegfried, for clarifying. I truly appreciate it, and your nice comments. Michelle, thanks so much for your kind words! Please rate this photo for me as well, so others can see it in searches for top bird photos. Thanks again to all who commented!

Hi Kenneth,

 

This is a nice capture.  Great tones and detail on the underside, which is really hard to do with this angle looking up at the sky.

 

Regards,

Dennis

By the way, Kenneth, I know what Siegfried is suggesting.  In Photoshop beginning with CS4 and higher, you can extend the monotone sky out even if there is no space at the left on the original capture.  You use content aware scaling.  I have a link around here somewhere  -- let me look under a few piles of paper on my busy desk...haha. 

 

However, I believe you mentioned earlier you don't have either Photoshop or LR.  If not, never mind...but it's a cute technique I have used on one or two photos in the past.

 

Regards,

Dennis

Thanks Dennis. I get it now. There was room I just liked this crop. I am going to be getting a new software program though, so I can improve areas on photos with more precision. Thanks again.

Very nice capture indeed.  They never stay around long enough for me to get a shot.

 

Thanks Walter, for stopping by and taking the time to comment.