Randy Bell  


Red-tailed Hawk by Randy Bell

February 2025 - Red-tailed Hawk

About the Image(s)

I went to a wildlife reserve that is about an hour's drive from my home about a week or so ago.
This was my first time to this location and there are many species of birds at this reserve. This
bird, which I believe to be a red-tailed hawk, was just sitting on this post as I drove by. He
looked at me but did not seem to be in any hurry to leave, so I grabbed a number of shots of
him.
This was the first time I photographed birds in this kind of a setting and it seems many of my
photos this day were on the soft side. I am not sure whether that softness of the photos was
due to the equipment I was using or if it was due to something I was or wasn't doing with my
technique or camera settings. I thought the hawk in this photo was reasonably sharp and
thought I would get your opinions or suggestions on it. I did bring a tripod, but did not use it. A
longer lens would definitely be helpful (new toy idea for myself??) as I had to do a lot of
cropping. Overall, regardless of how the photos turned out, it was a fun day and I plan to visit
there again.
I shot this with my Fuji camera with a 55-200mm lens at 200mm, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec at ISO 200. I
edited the photo in Affinity Photo which mainly consisted of cropping, contrast and color
adjustments. I also removed a metal pole that was distracting.


2 comments posted




Jim Overfield   Jim Overfield
Randy, a really nice shot of this hawk with a nice country background. How lucky for you that he posed for you, with his best side towards you at that! The sunlight is an inviting warm glow that highlights the colors of the bird, and a great backround nicely. Significantly cropping an image will certainly impact sharpness but even so, I think your hawk, fence post and the grass at the base of the post, are pretty sharp. Improper Physical posture while hand holding a camera with a long lens can affect image quality. I also wouldn't hesitate to shoot at a faster shutter speed when hand holding a camera with a long lens, to help mitigate any movement while shooting. Your aperature setting produced a great background, and a one stop smaller setting might also result in a sharper image without compromise to the background quality. Your photo tells an appealing story, nice job Randy.   Posted: 02/07/2025 20:09:58



Sylvia Williams   Sylvia Williams
Nice shot! I like the background.
I tend to shoot birds wide open, which can lead to a softer body then I like.   Posted: 02/09/2025 23:19:20



 

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