Bald Eagle - making a catch

[NorthernFocus]

Bald eagles feed primarily on fish. But unlike sea birds and waterfowl, their feathers don't repel water. So rather than diving into the water to catch the fish, they make a high speed flyby and snatch them from the water. It's really fascinating to see. Here is a composite that I put together some time ago. The complete version has two additional frames but it is either too long or has to be reduced too small for good viewing on the computer screen. So I clipped it into these five. This was shot at 7fps so this sequence covers about 0.7 seconds of flight time. Click on it to view in the lightbox for 1280px version.

[bnnrcn]

This is the first time I have ever seen eagles flying like this and catching fish,it is not possible to make the photo bigger enough to see if it is sharp but as far as I can see it is sharp and very well done:-)

[deetheturk]

Great image Dan!

[chauncey]

Dan, this is a great series...I pray that these were shot in RAW as they need some tweaking. Eagle 1,3,4,5 need to have shadows lifted a bit, as the detail is missing, which is no big deal in PP. Bird #2 is perfect. To nit-pick a little more, flipping the image horizontally to make them fly L to R might make a more pleasing image.
IMHO, this sort of merge isn't as popular as I think it should be.

[FrankMi]

Beautiful sequence Dan! Great detail on how the eagle gets it's lunch!

[Shadowman]

Very nice sequence.

[NorthernFocus]

Thanks for the comments, folks.

Chauncey I do have the RAW files. I did this a couple of years ago when my PP skills and tools were pretty rudimentary. I simply adjusted the lighting on all the frames in ViewNX and exported to TIFFs. With no masking function all the frames had to be adjusted the same in order to look right when combined. Once in TIFF I used masks to work on the undersides of the birds but only so much to be done at that point. It took quite a bit of work to manually merge the images. I did so by matching up the BG features in order to accurately preserve the spacing that reflects the bird's true flight path. I have gone back and tweaked the TIFF file but starting over again with the RAW files will have to wait until I've got a lot more time on my hands than now.

I did make a reverse version of the image on the theory that left to right is a more natural flow for people. But after doing a non-scientific survey it didn't seem to matter to people so I stuck to the original. The native resolution of the 7 frame version works out nicely to a 12x36 in. print. I've got it printed on aluminum which shows the detail well.

[Kyle]

Wow, awesome shots. A glimpse into the life of animals on the food chain.

[Otavio]

Very nice sequence, Dan. Well done!

[Brownbear]

Beautiful... It is interesting to see how the light changes the colour of the eagle.

[IzzieK]

Beautiful shots Dan..good sequence...

[NorthernFocus]

Thanks for the comments, everyone. Glad you liked the image.

Beautiful... It is interesting to see how the light changes the colour of the eagle.

Christina, the colors can also change pretty dramatically from one bird to the next. You have to see them side by side to see how much. I always tried to correct the color of their dark feathers to a dark reddish brown. Then I took the following shot which shows how different they can be. Now I just correct WB off of their white feathers and the brown is what it is.

[Brownbear]

Thank you for sharing... Very helpful to know.

PS Stunning! Your eagle images are exquisite... (and your images of bears, and moose, etc)

Thanks for the comments, everyone. Glad you liked the image.


Christina, the colors can also change pretty dramatically from one bird to the next. You have to see them side by side to see how much. I always tried to correct the color of their dark feathers to a dark reddish brown. Then I took the following shot which shows how different they can be. Now I just correct WB off of their white feathers and the brown is what it is.

[FrankMi]

Fighting eagles? Wow! I'd be happy to just get a clear shot of one. Outstanding capture!

[Bobobird]

Excellent sequence. That fight shot is wow.

[FlyingSquirrel]

Dan, very awesome sequence image!

[Downrigger]

So very impressive, really enjoyable to see. I note that you were shooting the action from a tripod in order to make the composite, which makes your result all the more impressive to me.

[NorthernFocus]

Thanks for the comments, folks.

So very impressive, really enjoyable to see. I note that you were shooting the action from a tripod in order to make the composite, which makes your result all the more impressive to me.

Actually, Mark, the sequence was shot handheld with a shoulder stock and manually spliced together. It was a chore

[klovibond]

Fantastic work Dan, inspires me to have a go at something similar myself!