jamesszuch

Leucistic Red Tailed Hawk

Aug, 2013

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155

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+10

Awards

Staff Winter Selection 2015

Absolute Masterpiece

Top Choice

Superb Composition

Outstanding Creativity

Jaw Dropping

Exceptional Contrast

Peer Award

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Top 10 rank week 1

Top 30 rank week 1

excellent shot........

excellent......this just has to be explained

Great shot

Gorgeous

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Same photographer See all Behind The Lens

Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken at Raptor, Inc. -- a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of birds of prey through rehabilitation, education and conservation in Cincinnati, OH.

Time

A group of photographers visited Raptor, Inc. to photograph the various birds that they have there. The shoot was scheduled in the middle of the afternoon on a hot sunny day.

Lighting

Harsh direct light on a bright sunny afternoon. Not the best light but it worked well with the contrast of a leucistic (partial albino) red-tailed hawk.

Equipment

This was shot with a Nikon D80 with a Nikon 55-300mm zoom.

Inspiration

A group of us were photographing the various birds at Raptor, Inc. -- a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of birds of prey through rehabilitation, education and conservation in Cincinnati, OH. Isis is a leucistic (partial albino) red-tailed hawk. Her unique white plumage and beautiful blue eyes make her one of the most striking birds at Raptor, Inc. I had recently read an article about photographing pets in black and white and that seemed the perfect approach to capture this beautiful and unique bird.

Editing

I converted the image to black and white in Lightroom and increased the contrast a bit. I then burnt in the background -- a mottled green foliage and the post that Isis was standing on to emphasis the subject.

In my camera bag

My "standard" bag includes my Nikon D80 along with a multi-purpose Nikon 18-135 mm lens, the 55-300mm that I used to take this photograph, a Sigma 90mm macro lens and a Sigma 10-20mm wide angle. A Manfrotto tripod usually accompanies me and occasionally a Yongnuo YN-568 EX flash. I'll change the kit around depending on what I'm doing but that gives me a pretty flexible set of options when I'm not sure what I'm going to see.

Feedback

The benefit of photographing wildlife that isn't in the wild is that you can give some thought to what you want to do before you shoot. Animals, like people, have personalities and the setting provided the opportunity to make a portrait of this striking and imposing bird. Knowing that I wanted to treat this image in black and white and isolate the subject, it was easy to compose and adjust exposure to get the basic image that I wanted.

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jamesszuch

jamesszuch

Leucistic Red Tailed Hawk

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow jamesszuch

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