First weekend with clear skies since I bought my 500mm f/4L lens. I've been dying to see how well the lens focuses on something in-flight in decent light...I was impressed.

Another first for me was shooting in manual mode all morning even on the in-flights (I usually rely on AV Mode). I can see the advantages using manual but I have a long way to go to figure out the perfect camera settings for the Eagles I follow.

Anyway....this is about 80% of the image...it helps when they fly right at you.

1. This is the female with a substantial branch. She carried it to two different trees before finally crashing into the nest with it and taking out the male in the process.

Nice job Duane.

Rob

Very nice Duane.

Morris

Holy cow Duane, those are both awesome! The Second is Over the top with the expressions!
Larry

Looks to me Duane you 're handeling that lens just fine. Nice job

alan

Very nice Duane... #2 is really terrific.

Kirk

Beautiful light and colors in these, Duane.
Socrate

Very nice Duane.
dan

Thanks everyone for the replies.

Lovely Duane

where's the beak-locking shot

Lil

These are beautiful Duane. Have you tried shooting in Tv? It's like manual only it gives you a little more control over light changes, and especially shutterspeeds.

Sweet shots,

Howard

Great shots! What settings were used on these?

Dear Duane:

Terrific captures. Congratulations and thank you for sharing your images with us. The emotion in the second image is outstanding.

On the first image, you might want to dial in +1 EV exposure compensation to prevent the area underneath the wings from being darkened too much. I had a similar experience with some images I made of a nesting pair of bald eagles last April, as the area underneath the wings was too dark in my images. Yesterday I made the exposure compensation adjustment of +1EV when photographing the female bald eagle of the nesting pair, and shadowed areas of the wings came out much better --the texture and detail of the feathers in this instance above the wings came out much, much better for me.

Best regards,

Roman

Lil Judd wrote:
Lovely Duane

where's the beak-locking shot

Lil
It's buried in the 1300 images I took this weekend. Plus, we're only allowed one topic per day.

Roman....this was my first time shooting in manual mode. I actually blew out the whites on the Eagles yesterday with the settings I had (f/4 @ 1/1250") and exposing for the whites is what I'm more worried about then shadows in the underwings. Now if we had a nice blanket of white snow I wouldn't have to worry about the underside of the wings but in this situation something has to give.

Thanks everyone for the replies.

timgriffin wrote:
Great shots! What settings were used on these?
Canon 50D + 500mm f/4L...f/4 @ 1/1250" shutter speed...ISO 320...manual mode.

Lil Judd wrote:
Lovely Duane

where's the beak-locking shot

Lil
Here ya go Lil...and I was wrong..it was three frames prior to this one.

Wonderful Dwane. Ed

Both terrific shots, Duane. I've been shooting pure manual for about 3 years now and would mention that after a while, it you don't vary your settings much with regards to f-stop and ISO, setting the shutter speed will become 2nd nature to you. I make a few minor adjustments on the fly based on the conditions I'm shooting and only occassionaly get bit by bad exposures, mostly when I'm not paying attention like I should

Congrats on the 500 - you're going to love that lens

Ken

Great shots Duane, they're all outstanding. You did well with the dynamic range eagles present when in the sun with shadowed areas.