What a difference a day makes. On Saturday morning, I photographed the Red-tailed Hawk below in less than ideal conditions; it was dark, rainy, and snowy. In order to get anything useful from it, I had to bump the ISO to 2000 and overexpose by 1 1/3 stops (actually, I should have overexposed more, as I still had to increase the exposure significantly in post processing). In spite of it being grainy and little too dark in places, I sort of like the results. I’m wondering if it may just be because it’s a little bit different and kind of cool; the bird is clearly wet from the rain and is grasping a squirrel in its left talon.
By contrast, this morning I was lucky enough to find a Bald Eagle perched on the roadside in the beautiful light not long after sunrise. I shot this bird at ISO 800, but really I should have dropped it to 400 for better results. This shot doesn’t capture my imagination quite as much as the Red-tail. It’s a beautiful bird with nice light (at least on the head and chest), but other than it being a Bald Eagle, it’s not all that exciting to me, and it’s also messy with all the branches in the foreground and background. Tricia prefers it, so different strokes for different folks, I suppose.
Hi -I’m no photographer , but I think you are too hard on yourself -I think both of these pictures are stunning !
My sister is a gifted watercolor artist and it takes a lot before she is satisfied with her work .
I think your photos are technically good ( but I have NO talent there ) and artistically composed ! Love them !
Liz – I’m definitely my own worst critic, but I think that’s a good way to be in any artistic endeavor. I imagine your sister may feel the same way. I’m glad to hear you are enjoying the photos; thanks for checking in.
Matt
I actually like the branches in the shot as it adds context to the shot. Sometimes shots that are too “clean” look artificial to me whereas this shot gives the viewer a better feeling of the total experience. Nice job….keep up the good work! Always love to see what’s going on back home.
I appreciate what you are saying, Dave, I also like to have something in the shot for context. But, for me, this one is just a little bit too busy and I would like it to be a little cleaner. I’m glad I can give you a little taste of what’s going on in OC. Matt
I love both of these shots, Matt! I wish I understood the numbers you used, but regardless, both are excellent! Pop
Thanks Pop! We’ll have to discuss the numbers sometime soon… Matt
I agree with the commentators, you ARE always sooooooooooooooooooooo critical of your works. BOTH photos area outstanding! Beautiful shots of beautiful birds both pictured in the conditions of the moment. Of course you KNOW that I love that RTH! Any bird that kills squirrels is immediately my best friend. Great job, Matt. AGAIN!!!
You know how I can be, Ken, I can’t help it. I’m glad you like the Red-tail, I’m partial to it too, although I feel a little bit badly for the squirrel, even though I know it’s how nature works. Matt
I especially like image 1. There are many times that we try to get everything perfect. We face the washed out gray white sky and other factors . It is in these situations that we sometimes can be creative and pull an otherwise so so image into an artistic creation. There have been many times I’ve been tempted to purge an image from my computer and then found I could creatively work with it,
I prefer the Red-tail too Bruce. And I hadn’t thought about it, but probably in addition to it being a little more interesting, it was a more challenging photo to take and process. I’m usually pretty diligent when it comes to deleting images; I wonder how many hidden gems I’ve lost. It’s a battle with fitting everything on the computer. Thanks for checking in Bruce. Matt