Some more Dam Eagles

[Chris_B]

A few from my trip up to Conowingo yesterday. It was cold, cloudy and a very slow eagle day. I finally gave up by 12:30 pm which probably meant that the afternoon was great. It was a slow day but a morning watching eagles, even from a far, is better than going to work.

Most of these are heavy crops which was made possible by the D800 and some heavy PP.

1.

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2.

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3.

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4. Score one for the youngster

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5.

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[McQ]

Chris, these turned out very nice. Even though you say you had to crop way in, they look just fine. Great shots of the juvie catching its fish.

 

[fredfordguy]

Great photographs, especially seeing JR. catching some lunch!!!!

 

[mbg914]

Great photos Chris! I really enjoy going to the dam and plan a trip first of the week if the weather is positive.

Michael

 

[PistolPete]

Hey, I was there as well! Nice shots! I stayed until 2PM and the action never really picked up. I made the most of the four or five passes they made all day.

Were you using the tele-converter on the 400? This was my first shoot with my new D800e and I'm very grateful for the ability to mega-crop with it!

 

[Louis Champan]

Terrific action shots you've captured.

 

[Chris_B]

Hey, I was there as well! Nice shots! I stayed until 2PM and the action never really picked up. I made the most of the four or five passes they made all day.

Were you using the tele-converter on the 400? This was my first shoot with my new D800e and I'm very grateful for the ability to mega-crop with it!

Pete - That was me. It was nice meeting and talking with you. Funny that we hang out by accident and meet up back here. It shows the power of Nikon Cafe. Sorry to hear that the action never picked up. I figured that as soon as I left, the birds would line up for you guys. That is how it normally works.

Thanks for the nice comments everyone. In my 6+ years of going up to Conowingo, this was the slowest and cloudiest despite the weather guesser's forecast. My ability to get any usable shots was due largely to the D800's wide DR and croppability. There was a lot of post processing to get these to something worth showing. My old D300 would have given me close to nothing.

As an example:

strait out of camera:

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with a fair amount of levels, recovery slider, contrast and some selective burn/sharpening.

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[wizzard0003]

Nice work...! :smile:

 

[sarahbee]

Really great shots!! And some terrific post-processing skills too, to make the most out of the mega-crop situation - not everyone knows how to be able to do that to maximum advantage. Nice that the blue sky was in the area left behind by the cropping. Weird that the action was so slow after all the cold weather we'd had, but that's C-wingo for ya.

--Sarah

 

[yifeng]

Lovely shots!

 

[james thiel]

Beautiful shots. Can't wait for our eagles to start showing up here. Another few weeks. You images came out terrific and I sure find the D800 does a great job with both the crop factor and the high dynamic range offered which is great for eagles.

 

[Chris_B]

Thanks Jim. Post your shots when you get them. It is always fun to see the different regions post as the migrations occur across the country.

 

[cre8foru]

Those are some dam good shots... LOL. Seriously though that is a great save from a big crop. The D800 is awesome as well as your editing skills.

 

[cre8foru]

...

 

[Wood82ABN]

Great photos! Our eagles are back in the Fox River area! I am excited to get out there and check them out! Thanks for posting

 

[drr1531]

Any day spent with eagles is a good day IMO. The wing position and angle on no.3 is near perfect. Nice job.

 

[Maxis Gamez]

Harsh light but nice series!

 

[Chris_B]

Thanks guys