Shooting Eagles.......

Fishead

.....is pretty easy, they're big, slow, and reasonably plentiful. The problem is the light, especially when shooting in flight. Now I've collected several thousand shots and quite a few of them are "almost" perfect but every photographer wants more............there's always something that could be improved, especially getting complete feather detail without distracting background clutter.... and a bird that offers you the chance to see everything it's body has, flaws, folds and textures.

Couple days ago I finished up an unsuccessful day of fishing and as usual dumped my remaining bait for the seagulls to enjoy. As fast as they descended on the bunker they dispersed..........this means only one thing around here, there is something they fear close by. I grabbed my camera (always ready) and immediately saw the Eagle coming in from the East. No time to think only hold down the button. Swooping down on the fish my old screw drive lens somehow focused at exactly the right moment. I don't know how it could have been more perfect, the depth of field, the light from the sand reflecting and lighting the underside, the position of the wings, the eyeball looking at me.....damn I think it's perfect, get goose bumps just typing this. I won't bore you with my drivel any more, here's the shot. Since it offers more detail than can be appreciated in an embedded image you are gonna have to click the mouse, hope you think it was worth the effort!

http://www.smugmug.com/photos/i-GBjmNW4/0/X3/i-GBjmNW4-X3.jpg

Dick on Aruba

It's an awesome capture Allen. A one out of the 1000 shot.

Snowgirl

Amazing! Sometimes it pays to just shoot. Period.

Irish Se7en

I always enjoy a short story along with a picture. You nailed them both. Beautiful picture.

What were you fishing for, beside the eagle?

WigPro

Awesome shot, very well done and it is PERFECT!!!

Jim

kdog

Congrats! It is indeed a perfect shot. Once in a lifetime maybe.

Just FYI though, you can go ahead and imbed it at the X3 size. Dgin has a "Stretchy" feature such that it will downsize the shot to fit the user's browser and place a "View Full Size", button under it.