Hawk
Oct, 2014Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken by me in a place that does rescue work for wild birds of prey, is is based in South Devon, England, the man who runs the place often open the centre at weekends for photographers.Time
Taken around mid day in late June if I remember right, lighting was a tad on the dull side, but after a bit of photoshop it came out well I think.Lighting
The lighting on the day was very overcast indeed, so a high ISO was needed as was a wide aperture, I was at f/2 with this shot.Equipment
I shot this with a Canon EOS 7D, and a Canon 200mm f/2 L USM, a great lens, but pricey, think they are now just under £5,000, also I always under expose by 1 - 2 stops.Inspiration
Well I just love wildlife, all the birds on that day were just awesome, my favourite of the day was a European Eagle Owl, ‘ Moshie ‘ he was called, what a cracking bird he was, I was overwhelmed when the owner perched him on my right arm, his talons were huge, but his face was just stunning, those massive eyes of pure orange was a sight to see.Editing
The post-processing I use is Coral Paint Shop Pro X7 and Lightroom 6, plus Topaz plugins, for this photo I used Lightroom, such a joy to use and Topaz plug in for getting rid of noise, I shoot all my photos in Raw, I also like to shoot under by a stop, as some will know, if you underexpose you can work well with the file, if you go over, you just cant drag back nothing at all.In my camera bag
Way to much I would say, 2 Canon EOS 7D's, Canon f/2 200mm - Canon 70-200mm f/4 - Canon 50mm f1/2 - Sigma 70-200 f2.8 IS - Sigma 10-20mm f3/5 - Sigma 20-40mm f2.8 - Sigma 70mm Macro - Sigma 120-400mm. Manfroto tripod - 3 legged thingy mono pod, 2 x Metz A44 flash guns, wireless triggers, manual trigger, memory cards, spare batteries, cleaning cloths, etc.Feedback
Use a wide f stop if you have the lens, spot meter, fast burst of shots, underexpose a touch, you will need to wing it on the day for the lighting ( excuse the pun ) patience, and lots of it, don't be disappointed if you don't get the shot you want, it takes time and some help is needed at times, these birds move fast, one shot I have is of a peregrine Falcon, the fastest animal on the planet, was very happy with that one, an easy shot of the fastest bird there is, mind you, he was sat on a log.
