Two eagles in a tree

Snowgirl

These eagles visit the dead tree at the back of our pasture on a regular basis. It overlooks the river that runs along the perimeter of our property. They're used to seeing me walking around the pasture, camera gear in hand, and I'm working on getting closer as time goes by. Unfortunately, I'm always shooting "up" toward them. Any comments or suggestions gratefully accepted.

nrmdisk

It looks like, not only are you shooting up, but also into (or at 90 degrees) to the sun; with a white sky, that makes metering difficult. Is it possible to move toward the left and have the sun at your back, or does that put you mid-stream?

A couple questions...what lens are you using, ie focal length (in other words, can you get closer)? Can you spot meter on the head? I have shot a local eagle pair here in Moncton many times and know from experience how easy it is to blow out the white head and leave the body in shadow!

And where is Smith's Creek...is that out behind Sussex? If one wanted to go out and get a few shots of your eagle pair, how far from the main road is the tree (I'm not adverse to trespassing to get the right shot, but I prefer not to ).

N

Snowgirl wrote:

These eagles visit the dead tree at the back of our pasture on a regular basis. It overlooks the river that runs along the perimeter of our property. They're used to seeing me walking around the pasture, camera gear in hand, and I'm working on getting closer as time goes by. Unfortunately, I'm always shooting "up" toward them. Any comments or suggestions gratefully accepted.

Snowgirl

nrmdisk wrote:

It looks like, not only are you shooting up, but also into (or at 90 degrees) to the sun; with a white sky, that makes metering difficult. Is it possible to move toward the left and have the sun at your back, or does that put you mid-stream?

A couple questions...what lens are you using, ie focal length (in other words, can you get closer)? Can you spot meter on the head? I have shot a local eagle pair here in Moncton many times and know from experience how easy it is to blow out the white head and leave the body in shadow!

And where is Smith's Creek...is that out behind Sussex? If one wanted to go out and get a few shots of your eagle pair, how far from the main road is the tree (I'm not adverse to trespassing to get the right shot, but I prefer not to ).

N

I'd give you permission to come onto my land to take the photo - no problem. I'm 1 km. from Four Corners on Rte. 890. Email me directly and I'll give you directions. imagebyc@nb.sympatico.ca

I'm using a Canon 40D, 70-200mm at 195mm with a 2x converter, f/2.8 IS, ISO 100, 1/320 shutter Av priority.

For this shot I'm facing west. The river is on my left. I was on a bit of a ridge. To go left would have meant downhill to the river bank and a steeper upward angle to the shot.

I've tried approaching them from the right but if they take off I can't catch the flight from that side.

Want to shoot with me?

Snowgirl

nrmdisk wrote:

It looks like, not only are you shooting up, but also into (or at 90 degrees) to the sun; with a white sky, that makes metering difficult. Is it possible to move toward the left and have the sun at your back, or does that put you mid-stream?

A couple questions...what lens are you using, ie focal length (in other words, can you get closer)? Can you spot meter on the head? I have shot a local eagle pair here in Moncton many times and know from experience how easy it is to blow out the white head and leave the body in shadow!

And where is Smith's Creek...is that out behind Sussex? If one wanted to go out and get a few shots of your eagle pair, how far from the main road is the tree (I'm not adverse to trespassing to get the right shot, but I prefer not to ).

N

Oh - and I looked at your albums. Great birds of prey shots.