BIF - Bald Eagle, Millerton Lake (Fresno, CA)

CalfeeRider

Not the best shot, but so far my best! Any advice on shooting these guys is welcome! We have several birds locally for another 2 months and I'd really love to get a few good portrait shots.

Thanks to Ed Hughes for the loan of that 2x!

Jack

Harryb

Hey Jack,

Congrats on your first picture post on the Nature & Wildlife Forum. Giid capture of a difficult subject.

Bald eagles are tough to expose for with their white heads and dark bodies. You managed to not blow out the head in your shot but underexposed the body so you lost detail in the body area.

When I shoot eagles I set my exposure so that I'm blowing out the head area just a tad (usually around the edges). This will allow me to get more detail in the darker areas. In my post processing I will make a duplicate layer and then apply PS's shadow/highlight filter to the dup layer to bring out the detail in the body area. I try to apply it so that I don't create excessive noise in the body area. I will then make the dup layer a layer mask and paint out the highlight areas where the shadow/highlight filter is not needed.

Osprey Whisperer

Bravo. I'm still waiting to snap my first EIF. :uhoh

CalfeeRider

Harryb wrote:

Hey Jack,

Congrats on your first picture post on the Nature & Wildlife Forum. Giid capture of a difficult subject.

Bald eagles are tough to expose for with their white heads and dark bodies. You managed to not blow out the head in your shot but underexposed the body so you lost detail in the body area.

When I shoot eagles I set my exposure so that I'm blowing out the head area just a tad (usually around the edges). This will allow me to get more detail in the darker areas. In my post processing I will make a duplicate layer and then apply PS's shadow/highlight filter to the dup layer to bring out the detail in the body area. I try to apply it so that I don't create excessive noise in the body area. I will then make the dup layer a layer mask and paint out the highlight areas where the shadow/highlight filter is not needed.

Harry, thanks for the tip! I'll see what I can manage to do... CS2 and I are still struggling to get along. - Jack

CalfeeRider

Bird Man Photographer wrote:

Bravo. I'm still waiting to snap my first EIF. :uhoh

Thanks, Birdman! These birds seem to have some favorite perches and if you can find those you have better odds of getting a shot.

Ed and I have even talked about getting a hunter's blind and getting it setup before dawn. Anybody use them or have any experience doing that?

Jack

dallas

If this is not your best shot, let's see the other. I'd give a lot to have this in my portfolio, so off to the lake for me. Good capture.

afmdmc

Good Job.
they tend to be very territorial. they will frequent the same tree and even the same limbs year after year. what i've found to work best for me is to set up before daylight keeping in mind where the light will be comming from, and start shooting as soon as it gets light enough to see. a female that i've shot a lot does not like it if you have any thing in your hands. so i go out before daylight get set up then go back to the house where it's warm and wait for the light.

hope this helps
Dave

Rohirrim

Very nice EIF. While I don't have personal experience using a blind for eagles, I've heard lots of good things about a blind. There are several blinds available that are less than $100 and are a snap to set up and take down. Cabelas has a couple good ones.

CalfeeRider

dallas wrote:

If this is not your best shot, let's see the other. I'd give a lot to have this in my portfolio, so off to the lake for me. Good capture.

Hey William, I think you misread my post, it's my personal best, but not as good as some of the others I've seen. I'm pretty pleased with it though!

Thanks,
Jack

CalfeeRider

Steve/Dave, thanks for the comments about the blinds and the tips! I'll let you know how things go! - Jack