nesting season - eagles

livinginoz

a friend told me about these two who are nesting along the river not from from his house, pretty much in open sight. these are closely cropped, for the most part, and i know some are not perfect, but it was fun to spend a couple of hours there watching them. i had also stopped by there the night before, but it was getting darker and nothing turned out very well. it was a good lesson, though. i shot at iso 400 and there was a ton of noise. these were shot at 100, and it was greatly reduced. now if i could only get my focus better.

this guy is moulting and looks pretty scruffy, as eagles go.

grooming



ready to fly



the launch. i like how his shape echoes that of all the branches







the nest



i SO wish this was in better focus, but i posted it anyhow, just because i was surprised to find i actually got anything at all



rebel xt, f/8, iso 100, 400mm

snapapple

Nice series. I don't blame you for posting all of them. It's cool to see these birds at all. And, it's a learning process, getting the right settings, watching for the light. Hey, I'm doing the same thing. I hate grain at ISO400 or 800, but what do you do when you don't have the f/2.8 lens?

I love the second one with the wings spread out. It's nice and sharp.

I love that huge nest too. Eagles are rare around here, so I just love to see them at all. Nice job. Thanks for sharing.

livinginoz

snapapple wrote:

Nice series. I don't blame you for posting all of them. It's cool to see these birds at all. And, it's a learning process, getting the right settings, watching for the light. Hey, I'm doing the same thing. I hate grain at ISO400 or 800, but what do you do when you don't have the f/2.8 lens?

I love the second one with the wings spread out. It's nice and sharp.

I love that huge nest too. Eagles are rare around here, so I just love to see them at all. Nice job. Thanks for sharing.

thanks, snapple. i am still amazed when i get home and have something presentable. and i don't think i will ever tire of seeing eagles.

Rohirrim

Nice series Laurie. Neat seeing the Eagles in their natural environment. It's hard to get sharp images from a distance, so don't be too hard on yourself.

kdog

livinginoz wrote:

thanks, snapple. i am still amazed when i get home and have something presentable. and i don't think i will ever tire of seeing eagles.

I'm with you. Great series.

BTW, concerning the ISO400 noise. I might put in a plug for Steve (Rohirrim)'s selective sharpening tutorial. You can sharpen the bird, without sharpening sky noise. :

ginger_55

Nice captures, Laurie! I particularly like the big nest. I did tire of seeing "my" eagle a mile away and all these eagles here so close up. Seeing yours makes me want to go see mine again, but even if they are still in the nest, the folliage is coming up here.

I love seeing yours! Actually, it is a bit closer than mine, smile!

ginger

livinginoz

kdog wrote:

I'm with you. Great series.

BTW, concerning the ISO400 noise. I might put in a plug for Steve (Rohirrim)'s selective sharpening tutorial. You can sharpen the bird, without sharpening sky noise. :

sounds interesting. do you have a link?