African fish eagle with reposts


Posted by George Fellingham on Wed Jul 13, 2005 4:43 am

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1D Mk II, 500F4, 1/1600s, f/4, 400 ISO, handheld, full frame

Shot from the bird hide on the Engelhard dam in the Kruger National Park
three weeks ago. It was a rainy morning and we had to be on our way out of
the park by mid-morning. Two fish eagles were perched next to the hide,
but inacessible for photography. They kept on calling, but stayed put. A
couple of Egyptian geese kicked up a row and flew near the eagles. I was
shooting the geese when I realized there was an eagle in the viewfinder.
Two out of 11 frames were sharp. This is the better one. It was definitely
the high point of this trip!

George


Last edited by George Fellingham on Wed Jul 13, 2005 10:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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by Georgina Salup on Wed Jul 13, 2005 6:52 am
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Awesome flying position and background! Amazing...the eagle just "happen to be in the viewfinder" and you got this beauty!
Georgina
 

by Fabs Forns on Wed Jul 13, 2005 6:59 am
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Lucky you!!!!!!! Bird Fairy material this catch, for sure!!!!!!
Love the blurred bg :D :D
 

by Rob Palmer on Wed Jul 13, 2005 8:10 am
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Wonderful shot, any way you can crop a little tighter?
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by drichards on Wed Jul 13, 2005 8:14 am
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Easy to see why it was the high point of your trip! :D

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by Alan Murphy on Wed Jul 13, 2005 8:19 am
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What a catch! Great shot. I agree with a tight crop.
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by Bruce DiVaccaro on Wed Jul 13, 2005 1:06 pm
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George,

Very nice flight shot. I like the wing position.
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by Vince Thomas on Wed Jul 13, 2005 2:05 pm
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Congratulations on your good fortune George... and your skill to take advantage of it! :)
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by George Fellingham on Wed Jul 13, 2005 3:15 pm
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Image

Thanks for the kind comments. Here is a tighter crop.

An artist in South Africa is going to make me a painting based on this crop
and of course I will be making some large prints of the full-frame image.
 

by Christopher Dodds on Wed Jul 13, 2005 3:35 pm
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Wow, congratulations! you must be happy with this one!
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by mrhughj on Wed Jul 13, 2005 4:10 pm
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Good reflexes make for great images, George!!!!

Hugh
 

by KK Hui on Wed Jul 13, 2005 7:53 pm
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A well captured pose, George!
White is a bit hot.
Wished you had the 1.4x on ...
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by George Fellingham on Wed Jul 13, 2005 8:16 pm
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Thanks, KK. I think the white can be helped with another shot at the raw conversion. The original pixel values there are in the high 240s, but have probably been pushed over the edge when I did local contrast enhancemant with USM at 10,20,0.

The missing 1.4X was a carefully considered choice. The light was weak and my time limited so I figured better a sharp small eagle than a big blurry one. I hope to go back to that spot some time in the future and spend several days - then I'll try for big and sharp (and a fish in the talons)!

George
 

by George Fellingham on Wed Jul 13, 2005 10:46 pm
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Here is the image with the raw conversion done in BreezeBrowser Pro using the combined setting - no more blown hilight!
 

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