lightman07

American Freedom

NIKON D800

settings

Aperture f/5.6 ISO 2500 Shutter 1/1000

upload_date

Nov, 2013

Views

2204

Likes

+247

Awards

Action Award

Zenith Award

Top Shot Award 22

Featured

Contest Finalist in The Battle Of Amateurs Photo Contest

Contest Finalist in Eagles Or Owls Photo Contest

Peer Award

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Superb Composition

+21

Top Choice

+10

Absolute Masterpiece

Magnificent Capture

Outstanding Creativity

Superior Skill

All Star

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Behind The Lens

Location

I was driving down some of the less traveled highways in South-Central Missouri. It was a cool morning in the low to mid 60's, but that didn't stop me from taking the top off my Thunderbird for the trip from St. Louis to Bolivar. We were cruising along at about 65 miles per hour when something caught my eye to my left. Once my eyes focused on it and registered what I had seen my heart began to race. I found the first spot to do a u-turn and did so quickly. My wife, hanging on for dear life, asked what was wrong. I was almost speechless, but gathered the words "you'll have to wait and see". Stopping short of the location where I saw this majestic symbol of our freedom, I popped the trunk and gathered my Nikon D800 and Nikkor 70-300mm Lens and walked briskly the remaining distance. As I approached I slowed my stride so I wouldn't spook it. Once parallel with this Bald Eagle I began to capture images of the object that seemed out of place when it captured my attention just moments earlier.

Time

We got up early this Saturday in November because I had this idea to drive to Bolivar and surprise my sister for her birthday. We departed from St. Louis at about 7:00 (am) and we were just about an hour from our destination. This particular image was captured around 9:35 (am). As mentioned before it was a little chilly and there had been some patches of fog earlier in our trip. I was so excited to actually see a Bald Eagle in the "wild" and yet puzzled by where I saw him. There wasn't a body of water or source of food, (that I was aware of), for a miles in each direction. My guess is that this dead tree in the small clearing was a stopping spot to rest before continuing the journey. If this had been any later in the morning I might have missed out altogether!

Lighting

The morning had yielded some patchy fog. At this time of day though, most of the fog had lifted. The sky was mostly clear of clouds and the sun was to my left. Because of where the tree was situated, lower and somewhat concealed by to other trees, there was really no direct sunlight cast on the eagle. Since it was the second of November the only leaves remaining were the oak leaves which try to hang on as long as they can. As a result the bare branches allowed more sunlight through than it would have been just a few weeks sooner in the season.

Equipment

My camera bag only has Nikon equipment. I shot this with my Nikon D800 and 70-300mm lens. There was no time to grab the tripod or monopod so I went handheld with the camera and prayed for a steady hand! No flash was used either! I'm not sure if this is because I was too excited and forgot to grab it or if through my excitement I actually considered that the flash might spook him and make him fly off.

Inspiration

I am always looking for opportunities to captures images candid or in a natural setting. I have also tried to teach my wife and daughter to notice the world around them. Any chance I get to capture shots like this one or some macro showing the fine detail of something commonly overlooked, I take it. Then I use it to punctuate my point to notice the world around us!

Editing

I try to do very little post-processing with my images. In this case, I did some post-processing. In Lightroom I captured the background and lowered the exposure to give a some separation between the eagle and the trees. I also adjusted the color saturation and clarity. The final step was to crop the image so the eagle was more promenade than the trees around him.

In my camera bag

My bag has always had Nikon from the very beginning of my DSLR journey! I started with the D80, then moved to the D90. Once I had two D90's I began to make sure my lens were upgraded to be ready for me to go full-frame. Currently my bag contains a D800 and D610. Lenses include14-24mm f2.8, 24-70mm f2.8, 70-300 f3.5-4.6, 50mm prime f1.4, 85mm prime f1.8, 60mm Macro and 105mm Macro. I also have two speed light flashes. And those are the contents of my ThinkTank camera bag!

Feedback

The greatest advise I have is to pay attention to the world around you. Notice the beauty in everything you see! Always have a camera with you, even if it is the one on your smart phone. In some cases you might only have seconds or minutes to capture the image before you! So unless you have photographic memory you will never see that moment that way ever again. Each second of each day is a one of a kind original, so capture it!

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lightman07

lightman07

American Freedom

Behind The Lens

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