On Wings Wide Open
Bald Eagle as it flies by aiming for it's target in the ocean.
Bald Eagle as it flies by aiming for it's target in the ocean.
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Jan, 2017Views
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Awards
Top Shot Award 22
Contest Finalist in Wings in Motion Photo Contest
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AntolovichPhotography
April 18, 2018
Fantastic shot! Great job! Would you like to join my Birds of Prey challenge?
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken at Canso Causeway in Nova Scotia, Canada in November of 2016.Time
We left early that morning to take the 3 hour trip to the Canso Causeway. This photo was taken later in the afternoon when the sun was shining towards the water. There were humpback whales there as well, and each time they would breach, the fish would scatter and then we would see a multitude of bald eagles flying in to catch the fish that was on the surface. It was funny, the eagles would remain in the trees or circling the air until a whale was about to breach and then swoop in for the fish. It was amazing to watch the whales and eagles work as a team :)Lighting
The light was perfect that day. As the eagle came flying by, it spread it's wings and made an abrupt turn to swoop down on it's target....an unaware fish. Just as he turned and opened his wings, I started shooting. He ended up successful and got his catch :)Equipment
I was using my Canon 7D Mark ll and the Canon 100-400mm f4-5.6 Mark ll @ 400mm. This was hand held with no flash.Inspiration
I absolutely love bald eagles. They are such a majestic bird and I love to watch their behaviour and hopefully lucky enough to catch it in a moment in a photo. When this bald eagle was circling after the whale breached, I knew he was going to dive for a fish, so I kept my camera tracking him until he was right in front of me, and opened his wings to make a turn. That's when I knew this was the moment I wanted. The light was perfect and illuminating the wing details which added to the image.Editing
I did very basic post processing on this image. I wanted it to look the way I saw it.In my camera bag
I normally carry a telephoto lens with a teleconverter just in case, as well as a few primes for wide angle, macro, along with 2 camera bodies. I want to be ready for anything :)Feedback
When trying to capture a bird in flight, the best thing to do is to have your shutter speed up to at least 1/1000. I normally shoot raptors in flight at 1/1250 to 1/4000, depending on the light and the kind of bird. I also shoot with auto ISO on these occasions as when a moment is happening, there is no redo and having to change ISO on the fly would take those seconds I would miss the moment. So because birds fly into all kinds of lighting situations with backgrounds (sky, dark trees, etc), I let the camera choose the ISO for the shutter speed so I can concentrate on the shot, not the camera :)
