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On the Wing
On the Wing
jbsmithana


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Birds II (Advanced Editing VII)
Camera: Nikon D200
Lens: Nikon AF Zoom-Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D ED VR
Location: Brackendale, BC, Canada
Date: Jan 23, 2008
Aperture: F5.6
ISO: 200
Shutter: 1/800
Galleries: Nature, Black and White
Date Uploaded: Jan 27, 2008

 Last year I traveled to Brackendale at this same time to shoot eagles and there were hundreds to be found in a small area feeding on salmon. Bad news was the weather was horrible with snow and rain the whole time, no sun.

This year I decided to try again because we had a great stretch of weather and I only live a few hours south of there. First day no eagles. The locals tell me it was a lousy chum salmon run which equaled way fewer eagles that were more spread out and harder to shoot. The largest count was out at the city dump which was closed to shooting, not that I would have wanted to anyhow. On the second day I found a few fighting over minimal salmon carcass remains and was able to get this shot that came out very sharp. I did get quite a few others but they either required a large crop which reduced quality or were not tack sharp. So although this was not the most active shot I captured it was the sharpest. I'll post some in the outtakes thread later.

I decided that after a few attempts at processing that b/w made this shoot stand out better. The backgound colors were pretty bland and took away from the shot in my opinion. I know I risk the legions who love COLOR & clarity. Hope you aggree with my decision!

Camera settings = aperature priority, multi pattern metering, singel area focus set at AF-C mode, exp. comp set at -1.0EV

Convert in Capture NX
Picture Control = normal
Saturation = normal
Exp. Comp. = +.10
White Bal = daylight - direct sun
Color Bal - contrast = +5
LCH = 0, 247
Levels & Curves = 0, 250
USM = 75, 10, 35
Vignette Control = 50%
Sve as 8 bit TIFF

Noise Ninja to profile and clean image
Save as 8 bit TIFF

PSE6
Crop Square
Layer = Brightness -10 and paint out eagle
Burn tool for edges and corners
Layer = Contrast +10 and paint out eagle
Layer = blur tool at 40% for background
Flatten image
Convert to B/W - portrait mode
Resize
USM = 100, .4, 3
Blur tool at 40% for background
Add black border
Save for web
Save for web


Statistics
Place: 41 out of 251
Avg (all users): 6.4118
Avg (commenters): 7.1429
Avg (participants): 6.3400
Avg (non-participants): 6.4808
Views since voting: 1036
Views during voting: 335
Votes: 204
Comments: 22
Favorites: 0

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AuthorThread
 04/14/2009 11:41:44 PM
Very sharp. Nice in B&W
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
02/01/2008 06:58:57 PM
Great capture. Was it orinally captured in colour?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/01/2008 04:44:59 PM
7 - Nice image. Looks like difficult contrasts to balance.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 02/01/2008 03:40:39 PM
What great lighting on the bird-very cool shot
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/31/2008 08:55:23 PM
Nice and sharp. Great flight shot. The contrasts seem a bit harsh and I am kind of bothered by the shadows(?) and hard lines on the wings
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/31/2008 07:07:36 PM
I like the sidelight, and the and the focus. The left of the image seems to have clipped the wing, either that or it blends into the background. Wish there was some detail there. 7
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/31/2008 11:49:13 AM
Gorgous!!! I love birds of prey and this is a wonderful shot of one!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/31/2008 04:24:34 AM
Wow... great tone control. The left wing *almost* gets lost in the background, so I hope you're not getting clobbered by users with uncalibrated monitors. Kudos for such a great capture of this bird in flight, too.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/30/2008 06:45:54 PM
The best B&W of this challenge. Well done.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/30/2008 10:23:23 AM
Great lighting and sharpness in thia action shot
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/30/2008 01:10:33 AM
Phenomenal rich tones and excellent in-flight capture.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/29/2008 08:12:23 AM
Lovely action shot, this can't be easy to get.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/29/2008 07:13:27 AM
Marvelous capture, excellent detail, and works well in B&W.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/28/2008 05:44:18 PM
Great shot. Really works in black and white. Also the only apparently non-Zoo or portrait bald eagle which is really refreshing to see. Nice context and excellent definition. Well done!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/28/2008 05:20:03 PM
Classic pose - extra kudos if this is in the wild!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/28/2008 04:17:24 PM
Very nice capture. You caught great detail for a flying eagle.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/28/2008 02:42:58 PM
very well done on this capture, the only thing that bothers me is the straight line across his wing, what is it??
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/28/2008 02:27:21 PM
i would like there to be more contrast between the wings and the background. you got a great shot of them spread so beautifully but they blend in with the background. there's also a strange line going across one of them.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/28/2008 01:02:02 PM
I don't know what colours there are on the original background but probably your choice for the black and white don't work. the wings of the bird are too much confused with the background. 6
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/28/2008 05:52:57 AM
very good shot, but there's not enough contrats between his wings and the water/coastline
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/28/2008 01:08:22 AM
lovely capture but the tip of the top wing merges into the background.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/28/2008 12:47:35 AM
nice & Sharp, but the lighting not too flattering
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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