davidwaldman

Coming in for a landing

Bald Eagle landing on ship mast on docked boat

Bald Eagle landing on ship mast on docked boat
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NIKON D780

settings

Aperture f/11 ISO 160 Shutter 1/800 Focal Length 5000/10

location

Valdez, Alaska, US

upload_date

May, 2021

Views

260

Likes

+34

Awards

Curator's Selection

Peer Award

Magnificent Capture

Top Choice

Absolute Masterpiece

Superb Composition

All Star

Emotions

Impressed

Top Ranks

Top 30 rank

Top 30 rank week 1

Top 20 rank

Top 20 rank week 1

Top 10 rank

Top 10 rank week 1

Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken in the early evening along the docks in Valdez, Alaska which was one of our stops on a 1500-mile road trip for mine and my wife’s 30th wedding anniversary. I have been an amateur photographer going on 40ish years and love to shoot wildlife photography.

Time

My wife and I were walking along the docks around 5 pm when we spotted the eagles flying overhead.

Lighting

With the sun setting around 10 pm at night in May, the sky was bright and cloudless around 5 pm so no background distractions when I was photographing the eagles in Valdez.

Equipment

My Eagle photo was taken with a Nikon D780 camera body and a Nikon 200-500 mm F5.6 lens. The lens was fully extended at 500 mm and the camera set at F11, 1/800 sec at ISO 160. I confess I would have preferred a faster shutter speed and time to play with my other cameras settings, but the eagles were upon us, and it was either shoot with what I had the camera set at or lose the opportunity. I didn't even have time to attach my monopod I had with me but ended up getting my shot.

Inspiration

I wanted to take images of the beautiful landscape and animals on my Alaska trip in order to create a 30th wedding anniversary trip album for my wife. Getting some nice shots of eagles was on my bucket list of images to capture for the album. We jointly selected "Coming in for a landing" as one of the images that went into the album.

Editing

My camera settings were not optimal, so I did post-processing to adjust the exposure and bumped up the saturation a bit. The image was enlarged and rotated from landscape to portrait.

In my camera bag

My camera body, the Nikon D780 along with all but one of my Nikon lenses: 14-24mm F2.8, 24-70mm F2.8, 70-200 mm F2.8 and a 50mm F1.8 along with a strobe, filters and different cleaning equipment for the lenses. My 200-500mm Nikon lens I carry in a separate bag. I take ALL of my equipment to the zoo and utilize a collapsible wagon to pull my equipment around. I learned my lesson in Alaska and have my monopod attached to the lens now, so I don't have to worry about my hands getting a bit unsteady from that 5.5 lbs lens when taking pictures!

Feedback

Patience. We didn't see any eagles for the first 2 days of our trip in Alaska. We initially were driving on the highway and were driving too fast to spot any Eagles. We were able to spot them once we started to go into some backroads and driving at a slower speed. Most of my Eagle shots were taken on hikes and walks along the waterfront in some of the cities we visited. Look for people with fresh caught fish gutting them at the pier. The fish entrails will attract the Eagles! Eagles are VERY abundant in Alaska and your patience will be rewarded with some great opportunities to photograph this majestic bird. Shoot in raw so you capture as much information as possible. That way, if post processing is required you have more information to work with.

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davidwaldman

davidwaldman

Coming in for a landing

Bald Eagle landing on ship mast on docked boat

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow davidwaldman

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