Alaska Eagle

[mikevet]

Photo shot in Juneau, Alaska last winter. Canon D10, 100-400 IS lens. Shot at 400mm, f6.7, 1/350, ISO 100, on a tripod. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Mike

[vIZnquest]

I don't have anything constructive to help you with on this picture. I can only say what I see and that it looks soft or a tad bit out of focus.

May I ask why you used pattern meter for this particular shot.

Possibly spot or center weighted could have helped.

Pardon my newbieness just trying to learn here and I could be way out in left field in what I just said.

If so can I be enlightened?

Mahalo,

Tom

[mikevet]

Thanks for the reply. The photo was taken in full auto. I am trying to get away from auto and get into the "creative zone" with this camera. Looks like I'm in for a very long learning curve.

[CCWKen]

This is just my take on long shots with a possible "useful" background. Set the camera to Aperture Priority and set the apertureto max (smallest opening).This could bring the background into focus and still have subject contrast--Dark eagle with soft blue background. Right now, the pic confuses the eye with too much out-of-focus mater and draws the eye away from the eagle.

Just MHO.

If you are shooting a 10D on full auto, I would get away from that ASAP. Just moving from program to aperture priority would have made a big difference here.

It looks like the camera focused about 5-10ft in front of the actual eagle. While I agree that the background could benefit from more DOF, I would probably go up to f16-32 while reframing (while shooting) to bring the island & eagle to the closer to the lower right area of the shot. That should provide a more interesting view of the eagle gazing into the distance while the snow covered mountains draw your eyes towards the direction of the eagles gaze.

But, what do I know? While I'm just shooting for fun, I do try to do the best I can!

[RodneyBlair]

Overall this is a nice shot. You've lost some sharpness and detail when you sized it for posting. The biggest problem I see is the exposure. The overall scene exposure is good, but if you want the eagle to stand out, then it needs more light. Good detail is missing from the eagle because of exposure. You can try a few adjustments to the original in post and pull it out more. I'm curious if this is the original framing or if you've cropped it?

Attached is a quick edit for demonstration purposes. There is too much of a blue cast for my taste so I've warmed it up a tad.

Thank you for sharing!

Rodney

[Golfer]

Rodney, I really like what you did to the eagle shot taken by mikevet. Any chance you could explain how you did it. It looks sharper with more detail. I did not know you could do that with a soft picture.
Mikevet, I have a couple suggestions for you:
1. Open you camera up 2/3 to 1 full stop.
2. Use spot metering.
3. Use AV mode and with your 1x4 you can use a higher F stop such as F22 or more and get the mountains more in view [more of a landscape shot], or, stop down to F8 or lower and blur the mountains.
Overall nice shot. By the way, I have a brother in Juneau. Send me a PM, I wonder if you know him.

[RodneyBlair]

Golfer wrote:

Rodney, I really like what you did to the eagle shot taken by mikevet. Any chance you could explain how you did it. It looks sharper with more detail. I did not know you could do that with a soft picture.
Mikevet, I have a couple suggestions for you:
1. Open you camera up 2/3 to 1 full stop.
2. Use spot metering.
3. Use AV mode and with your 1x4 you can use a higher F stop such as F22 or more and get the mountains more in view [more of a landscape shot], or, stop down to F8 or lower and blur the mountains.
Overall nice shot. By the way, I have a brother in Juneau. Send me a PM, I wonder if you know him.

I first adjusted the White Balance. Next, I created a new curves layer to make adjustments to acheive more dynamic range because it is the exposure that is lacking here. I think a bit more latitude can be achieved from the original. The overall scene is a bit hazy so I did a gamma correction to give it a little more punch.

After I was satisfied with the exposure and color corrections, I increased the red and yellow channels a tad so that the light on the eagle will be more prominent and more natural looking.

As a final step, I downsized it to an appropriate size for this forum and run a low level Unsharp Mask.

Rodney

[Stevekin]

I second Golfer's opinion of Rodney's edit, although a great capture in the first place.

I just have one further critique if I may.

Rodney, I like the new Avatar, but tell me.......... Does your younger, more handsome brother mind you using his image ?:-)

Stevekin.

[RodneyBlair]

Stevekin wrote:

I second Golfer's opinion of Rodney's edit, although a great capture in the first place.

I just have one further critique if I may.

Rodney, I like the new Avatar, but tell me.......... Does your younger, more handsome brother mind you using his image ?:-)
Stevekin.

Indeed, the original image is a great capture. Getting away from the Auto Exposure modes as others have suggested will serve this photographer well. He has clearly demonstrated he understands how to compose an image. If he will take a few minutes of his time and read up about exposure compensation in his camera's manual, I think we will see some amasing images from him.

Oh my my...the avatar! I am fortunate enough to have an older brother. It is pretty awesome to always have him looking out for me. He did when we were children and still does today.

Rodney