I've been trying forever to get some bird photos with no luck at all. This afternoon I was at the golf club and this hawk was screeching it's head off and I got pics! yay! 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Hey, cool. I kind of like the fourth shot, where the bird explodes into flight from where it was perched on the limb--neat effect!
Way to go! #4 is a great capture. Intense gaze, nice and sharp, and some natural framing from the branch. :thumbup:
the series proceeds as if the hawk is startled by your invasion of privacy (#1 = "gasp!"), becomes indignant and finally flies away.
Cool shots. Nice bird, great you could get so close. The only critique I might give is that, on my monitor, the WB seems a little off, they all seem kinda cool.
In about half of them, the focus is on the leaves behind the hawk. When shooting birds in trees, you have to be super careful, because the parts of the tree generally have lots of contrast and sharp edges that the focus sensors love to key into. Other than that, great shots!
You're right, I was fighting with the focus to get back on the bird, but I didn't have time to fix the settings because it all happened so fast. It is a young red tail hawk.