Archive 2018 · Morning on the Nooksack

cseelye
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Morning on the Nooksack

Monday morning I got up (way too) early and headed up to the Nooksack river hoping to photograph eagles feeding on chum salmon. I generally shoot eagles in the Skagit Flats area as it's conveniently located for me. I wanted to get something different than my usual eagle in a tree or eagle taking off from a tree photos. The bird numbers should be peaking right now, and with nothing but worsening weather in the foreseeable future I decided it would be now or wait until next winter. So after a two hour drive, I discovered that due to the recent heavy rains the river was running too fast for eagle fishing. That was something I hadn't even considered. At least I learned something about planning! I did manage a few frames in spite of conditions.

One thing I'm working on these days is to include more environment in my wildlife images. Without realizing it, I have been for a long while, been cropping every wildlife image in an attempt to produce a wildlife portrait. In many cases that has left me with significant crops. For online viewing that's not a big issue. However, I produce images for print, and deep crops limits the sizes I can print, and many of my clients want very large prints. So, in an effort to minimize cropping I'm being much looser in PP. These two images are nearly full frame. Am I on the right track?
-Chris

Bald Eagle flyby

Bald Eagle scouting the river

Dec 19, 2018 at 06:46 PM

Bobg657
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Morning on the Nooksack

Just IMO, I like both images but would want the eagles off center, the first image is an environmental shot vs an eagle shot, if that's your goal ot works fine.

Dec 19, 2018 at 08:54 PM

surfnron
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Morning on the Nooksack

Both are nice Chris, but the eagle in 1 is a little to small for me. 2 is about as far as I'd go personally ~ Ron

Dec 19, 2018 at 08:59 PM

morris
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Morning on the Nooksack

Hi Chris,

I've been making the same mistake recently and even as I processed images I took today I'm still cropping too much on some. It's a hard habit to break...

On your images the first is pretty yet the eagle a bit small for my taste. The second is just right for an environmental

Morris

Dec 19, 2018 at 10:12 PM

csinseattle
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Morning on the Nooksack

Chris, I know what went through, I've been there, Around the first of the year when it dries out a little and gets a little colder.

Chris S.

Dec 19, 2018 at 10:41 PM

louie champan
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Morning on the Nooksack

First off, congrats on getting up early and getting out there in spite of the weather conditions. Nice shots, but I think a little different crop on both might have been better.
With the amount of rain we're getting and the very low salmon count, we may not get what we are all expecting up on the rivers this year. But we still got to get out there.

Dec 19, 2018 at 10:48 PM

cseelye
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Morning on the Nooksack

Thanks for the cropping feedback everyone. In the first photo, I left it full frame even though my brain was screaming for a tighter crop. My goal is to get to a place where my finished images still have enough resolution to get to large print sizes (30X40 and up). Shooting at 500mm with a 1.4 in most instances still leaves me having to crop significantly which makes for a nice image but not enough pixels for a clean enlargement. I don't like the choices I have to resolve the problem which are a) limiting the final print sizes based on the pixel count of the final crop, b) somehow finding the funds for a 600 or 800mm lens, c) finding ways to get closer to the subject to begin with, or d) passing on the shots that require significant cropping.
C) seems to be the logical choice but in most instances if I could physically get closer I most certainly would have. Perhaps I'm just not getting to the proper locations where proximity to the subject fits with the limitations of my current gear.
Or, maybe I'm stressing over an easily solved problem that can be addressed by scaling software.
-Chris

Dec 20, 2018 at 10:01 AM


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