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Comment by Barroness:
Incredible! Holy smokes.. This shot is amazing! Congratulations

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Comment by Refocused:

Originally posted by 3DsArcher: I envy your opportunity to photograph these magnificent birds. This is really well captured

Thanks for the comment Alex. Surprisingly, I captured this scene about 50 yards away off the road in a corn field on the way to the mall. I have taken previous pictures of several eagles that live near here but this time they had ventured closer to the road to feast on some road kill. Normally they are very aware of me and fly off. This time I was able to pull my car over to the side, get out and shoot several shots before they left.

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Comment by Refocused:

Originally posted by vawendy: I'm wondering if you did sharpening on the whole image? It looks like there's some strange things going on in parts of the background, especially in the lower right? If you're working on sharpening and clarity, you might want to do it on the bird, and not on the background to make it look a bit more natural. You don't need to blur it, just don't sharpen or even just reduce clarity in camera RAW if you're using Adobe. Great capture, a bit uncomfortable in the processing.

Thank you for the comment Wendy. Yes, you are correct. I noticed the distortion of the backround. It seems to occur when I use my 100-400 lens on certain images when I try to sharpen the image with Topaz. I should have as you suggested tried to selectively sharpen the bird. It's an unappealing backround and I thought it made it look a little like water:( so I left it alone.

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Comment by Neat:
Wonderful image, was in my second round of picks!

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Comment by roz:
amazing capture Larry .. and many congratulations on the ribbon ..

I'm only looking at this on my phone so i'm not getting the full impact ..
but I did wonder about the background too .. so I'll be interested to hear your response to Wendy .. :)

A Sturdy Perch
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Comment by jomari:
Congrats on the blue. Fabulous shot.

A Sturdy Perch
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Comment by vawendy:
Very well done! I love the sleet on the face. Really tells a story

A Sturdy Perch
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Comment by Barroness:
This is a superduper image! How on earth did you manage this???
Well deserving of the blue. Congratulations. A top pick for me.

A Sturdy Perch
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Comment by tate:
Love it!

A Sturdy Perch
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Comment by roz:
this is like a miracle ..
the chain as a major player in the image .. and then the bird ..
blue bird .. and blue ribbon ..
very fitting ..
many congratulations on such a perfect image for the challenge .. :)