White-bellied Sea Eagle

[jawright]

Shooting data: Canon EOS 7D, EF300mm f/2.8L IS USM, 1/1000 sec at f/2.8, ISO 100

Here is a White-bellied Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster) from southern Thailand. This shot shows their ability to turn their heads around 180 degrees! Handheld shot slightly cropped to position the bird slightly off-centre.

[kutyafej]

What a beautiful bird. Is it wild or captive? Nice pose and exposure looks good too. Perch isn't the most beautiful one. Well done.TFS.

Lorant

[jawright]

Thanks Lorant:

This bird was photographed in Petchaburi province at the King's Environmental Research Project, and as such I am not sure if it is truly wild or not. The 'Project' is kind of like a protected wildlife sanctuary, so many creatures take refuge there and become accustomed to wildlife watchers and photographers. This bird was not in a cage, but obviously used to people visiting the Project so it could be approached fairly closely. Unfortunately it wouldn't turn around, so all I could get was this shot from behind. The perch is part of an old abandoned jetty in the mangroves.

[LWP]

I think you've cropped the wrong side, the image isn't balanced properly now I feel, you really need to have more space on the right of the image in order for a selective crop to work here.

[jawright]

Sorry, LWP - not much space on the right! Here is the full frame shot.
http://www.wrightphotography.com.au/images/white-bellied-sea-eagle-uncropped-7877.jpg

[LWP]

No it's plenty!!! Leave the space on the right as it is an crop more from the left to balance it out. The amount of space you've left on the image on the left side at the moment needs to be left on the right instead.

[jawright]

Ok, I've changed the crop - please see the new version at the top. Any better?

[LWP]

Love it It's much better balanced this way.

[jawright]

Thanks Lee - I too prefer this version. Originally all I was concerned about was cropping out the top of the post, but as the perch doesn't look that natural anyway the photo works better leaving it in and cropping as you suggested - thanks for the advice!

[Jon]

Very nice shot, I would suggest perhaps putting a little more light in the eye or try to enhance the faint catchlight a little.

[jawright]

Thanks for the suggestion, Jon - how is this?

[Jon]

Thanks for the suggestion, Jon - how is this?

There are several ways to do this, if you know how to make a mask, then reverse the selection and feather the selection, then go to levels and increase slightly. Alternatively magnify your image then using the Dodge tool - set it to Highlights and then using a small brush set at say 15% click over any highlights until they appear brighter. Sometimes you may wish to use a brush tool and paint a small catchlight.
If this doesn't make much sense you can PM me - also look at Juza's tutorials I seem to remember he used to have a section on eyes.

[jawright]

Hi Jon:

I adjusted the eyes already by using LR2's exposure adjustment brush and brushed in +1.33 just to the eye area. If you have a look at the photo at the top you should be able to see an improvement.

[Debapratim Saha]

Nice shot with a different wing pose!

[Thylacine]

Nice shot!. Only nack to me is the yellow haze, which can be easily corrected in PS and should improve the colour balance a lot.

Cheers!
Thylacine