Leucistic Red-Tailed Hawk Redux - C&C Appreciated

[manaheim]

For anyone who may recall, I've been chasing this silly bird all over our office campus at work. I've finally learned the trick... he'll fly away the second he sees a human being, but you can pretty much drive a car up his tailfeathers and he won't pay you any mind. :lmao: Silly bird.

Anyway, I've been getting some shots from the car window with some decent results. Here are some.

I suck at bird shots so any critique appreciated.

==1==

== 2 ==

Somewhere I have one of him actually flying but I misplaced it. lol Find that one later.

 

[KamaKazzy]

Wow, crazy looking Red Tail. Just wild there? Odd.

 

[tirediron]

It's hard to critique shots like this; you have to take what you can get when you can get it. I would suggest a closer crop to the bird though; it seems a little lost in the large image. Nice captures!

 

[manaheim]

Wow, crazy looking Red Tail. Just wild there? Odd.

Yeah, he has apparently "hung out" in this area for about 10 years now. The bird is uncommon enough and noteworthy enough that he has his own home page on the Audubon Society website. (and they have better pics of him than I do... lol) I should try to dig up that site.

It's hard to critique shots like this; you have to take what you can get when you can get it. I would suggest a closer crop to the bird though; it seems a little lost in the large image. Nice captures!

Yeah, I can see what you mean. It's often like "Oh snap, there he is... quick, where's my camera..." Are there things in general I should be considering when trying to take pics of birds? I'll try to re-crop in closer to him. I was trying to do the rule of thirds thing but maybe i overdid it a bit.

Thanks to both of you!

 

[BoblyBill]

Main thing I see that could be inproved is make sure the subject that you are shooting is exposed right and worry about the rest of the scene later. In both pictures the bird is badly blown out. I know will be hard since this bird is very white but next time you are out try to expose for his back so you can see more detail there... Also... it seems to me that at the shudder speed that you are using you shouldn't get shake but these are still soft.

 

[manaheim]

Main thing I see that could be inproved is make sure the subject that you are shooting is exposed right and worry about the rest of the scene later. In both pictures the bird is badly blown out. I know will be hard since this bird is very white but next time you are out try to expose for his back so you can see more detail there... Also... it seems to me that at the shudder speed that you are using you shouldn't get shake but these are still soft.

Oh that's interesting. Good tip. I actually do have this in RAW so it's possible I just went too far on the exposure selection, so let me try that first... however, I will keep the tip in mind either way as I may just be taking the shot wrong.

It is tough on this guy since he is all white.