A bit of a showoff, I think.

[mn shutterbug]

My wife and I went babysitting over the weekend and my son in law had told me about an eagle's nest in the area. He took me to the area, and there was Baldy sitting in a tree about 75 yards away. I took a couple shots, and he took off. Surprisingly, instead of flying away, he flew right by us, two times. Also, I couldn't have asked for better light. Luck was definitely on my side that day.

[Singletracklovr]

Oh wow, those are fantastic. You lucky dog...

Something tells me you will be going to the print shop soon.

[OldClicker]

Great shots. I think they have a gov't contract. :-) TF

[mjs1973]

Nice Mike, very nice!!

[SARtech]

These are the shots I have been trying to get! Gongrats.
Don't be too surprised about them flying by you. The eagles I shoot make it a habit when they do see me to fly right over me and look down at me! I betting if you went back there, they would do it again.

Kristine

[Loupey]

Great looks, Mike!

This series reminds me just how prominently visible their talons are in flight. Something I'm not used to seeing with hawks, falcons, and songbirds in flight.

[Canon_Bob]

Great series Mike. Number 5 being my favorite. Way to control the exposure on a difficult species to get right!

[AgingEyes]

Wow ! How are we going to top these ? :cryin: :mad2:

[caleb7mm]

wow wow wow wow

[jetrim]

Seriously great shots, fantastic job!

[Grandpaw]

What else can I say but great shots, Jeff

[Outdoorsman11]

hey mn shutterbug, WOW!! those nature photos of the bald eagle are the best i have ever seen ,nice job... just wondering did you have to fool your camera to get sharp detail like that ( shooting into the sky) before you started shooting ,any help would be appreciated by you or anyone else...there some canada geese around my area and i would like to know how to get sharp detail and the right exposure.thanks for sharing...........Outdoorsman11

[mn shutterbug]

Thanks everyone, for your extrememly complimentary comments. I'm still reliving the experience.

Outdoorsman, you could say I "fooled" the camera. When I first saw him, I noticed the sky was pretty bright. The sun wasn't really out, but the clouds were extremely thin, which is a photographer's ideal lighting. I automatically deduced that I would need to compensate for the bright sky, at least 2/3 stop. I could have gone to a full +1, and still been OK. Considering how fast things happened, I didn't have time to check my histo. I just had to rely on experience and hope I wasn't off too far. I always shoot in Av mode. Sometimes manual exposure might work better, but I've been shooting this way for so long, I'm used to it and it works the best for me. Not only that, but with an object moving across the sky, the light changes from point A to point B to point C, so manual would be out of the question. If the light allows, I normally shoot at f8. However, my camera was still set from the day before, and I forgot to change the aperture back. Also, ISO 400 is more common for me, but I was still at ISO 500. These small differences wouldn't have mad much difference. The main thing was, to compensate for the bright sky. If not, the sky would have photographed gray and I would have probably lost detail in the feathers, due to under exposure. The one other thing to keep in mind when shooting bif's (birds in flight), is to make sure you are shooting at a shutter speed of around 1/1250 sec. or faster, unless you want some blur to the wings. I hope this helps. Now, go get them honkers.

One more thing. If you are shooting Canon, make sure you have the focus set to AI servo. I'm sure others have an equivalent.

Footnote: I'm actually considering making a collage out of these, less the butt shot. I think that would like kinda cool, printed 20 X 30.

[Outdoorsman11]

Thanks everyone, for your extrememly complimentary comments. I'm still reliving the experience.

Outdoorsman, you could say I "fooled" the camera. When I first saw him, I noticed the sky was pretty bright. The sun wasn't really out, but the clouds were extremely thin, which is a photographer's ideal lighting. I automatically deduced that I would need to compensate for the bright sky, at least 2/3 stop. I could have gone to a full +1, and still been OK. Considering how fast things happened, I didn't have time to check my histo. I just had to rely on experience and hope I wasn't off too far. I always shoot in Av mode. Sometimes manual exposure might work better, but I've been shooting this way for so long, I'm used to it and it works the best for me. Not only that, but with an object moving across the sky, the light changes from point A to point B to point C, so manual would be out of the question. If the light allows, I normally shoot at f8. However, my camera was still set from the day before, and I forgot to change the aperture back. Also, ISO 400 is more common for me, but I was still at ISO 500. These small differences wouldn't have mad much difference. The main thing was, to compensate for the bright sky. If not, the sky would have photographed gray and I would have probably lost detail in the feathers, due to under exposure. The one other thing to keep in mind when shooting bif's (birds in flight), is to make sure you are shooting at a shutter speed of around 1/1250 sec. or faster, unless you want some blur to the wings. I hope this helps. Now, go get them honkers.

One more thing. If you are shooting Canon, make sure you have the focus set to AI servo. I'm sure others have an equivalent.

Footnote: I'm actually considering making a collage out of these, less the butt shot. I think that would like kinda cool, printed 20 X 30.

THANKS ALOT,mn shutterbug, i'll start practicing with my canon xt 70 x300 IS and i appreciate the help!!!! Outdoorsman11

[paulnj]

AWESOME images!

[Shebang]

Wow -- the only thing missing is an American flag fluttering somewhere! Nice!

[tayl0124]

These weren't taken in the Maplewood/St.Paul area were they?? Last year we had some on the news that had nested near highway 36 at keller lake.