Looking for Lunch

[SlipJigPiper]

This young eagle was perched on a fence in the backyard of a house in Ketchikan, Alaska. I managed to get only one shot before he flew away. Nikon D300; ISO 200; 1/250 sec @ f/8; 400mm; hand-held.

[Marko]

This is a really nice shot especially at 1/250 handheld on a 400mm lens.
I would likely have chosen 1/500 minimum. This is a case where I would have used shutter priority and dialed in a fast shutter speed.
It's not tack sharp but it's quite good. I like the composition and the blurry bkgd. The actual eye could use a slight contrast boost imo. I just love the intensity of eagle stares. Hope that helps - Marko

[JAS_Photo]

Beautiful Capture, nice composition! Are you working up there in Alaska? We were in Ketchikan a couple of years ago with the Holland America cruise. We were only there a few hours and it rained the whole time. But we did go on the 'Duck Tour' and see the 'redlight district'. Very interesting, beautiful (and wet) part of the country.

[AntZ]

Beautiful bird! The bokeh is very pleasing. It would have been a stronger image if he sitting on something more natural.

Did you hang around to see him fly off? He would have been spectacular on the wing.

[SlipJigPiper]

Marko-
Thanks for the feedback. It was one of those moments of
1. Shock at coming upon such a beautiful bird unexpectedly
2. Grabbing the camera and shakily trying to frame the shot
3. Pressing the shutter while closing my eyes and praying that I wasn't shaking too much

The next second the eagle was gone...........

[SlipJigPiper]

Beautiful Capture, nice composition! Are you working up there in Alaska? We were in Ketchikan a couple of years ago with the Holland America cruise. We were only there a few hours and it rained the whole time. But we did go on the 'Duck Tour' and see the 'redlight district'. Very interesting, beautiful (and wet) part of the country.

I was up there on vacation last month. We really lucked out with the weather. It was 75 and sunny. One native I spoke with said last year they only had 15 days when it DIDN't rain!

[SlipJigPiper]

Beautiful bird! The bokeh is very pleasing. It would have been a stronger image if he sitting on something more natural.

Did you hang around to see him fly off? He would have been spectacular on the wing.

Thanks for the feedback. Yeah, I agree that a different perch would have been better, but both he and I didn't feed that it was in my best interest to try to move him

I did get one shot as he took to the air, but the angle was bad and about all I got (as we say here in the South) was his "blossom end" (attached)

[Marko]

Next time, preset the shutter with a faster speed on a 400mm but I totally understand and I have been in identical situations many times. You did extremely well for having only a second to shoot. My comment was only meant as a general comment to improve similar shots...but when you only have a second, you shoot what you can get. I also like this preparing to stiff the photographer shot

Marko-
Thanks for the feedback. It was one of those moments of
1. Shock at coming upon such a beautiful bird unexpectedly
2. Grabbing the camera and shakily trying to frame the shot
3. Pressing the shutter while closing my eyes and praying that I wasn't shaking too much

The next second the eagle was gone...........

[nomad358]

I think it's really well done! Shame about the fence though. If this bird was sitting on a tree branch ie: in a natural environment, it would have probably made National Geographic. :-)