Eagles in the Trees

While driving around the Shiawassee National Refuge, we saw these two Eagles sitting in the trees.  I'm guessing this tree is at least 150 yards away from the road.  (Note to self, under new toys, I may have to invest in a range finder.)

With that said, I am amazed at what light can do.  The detail that a lens can put to sensor/film is just amazing.  In this shot for the Eagle in the lower left - you can see the open eyes and if you drill down enough you can see the detail of the beak.  No matter how good the software is, if you miss the shot - you missed the shot.  You can't fake (Photoshop) that detail.

Now good software will help you if you have something to work with.  And this shot needed a little bit of help.

This shot is at 600 mm and far away.  I'm surprised (but very, happy) that it came out as well as it did.  But it does look far away.

But what you can see, and what I see, is a maturing Eagle.  The one on the right is just starting to get its colors.  You can really see the yellow of the feet.

There is some cropping involved.  This image is also a great case for using the content-aware fill of whatever application you use.  There are a number of distracting branches, most notably around the edges.  Not that it is bad, but could be better.  And a good exercise.

ISO 400, f/8, 1/3200 sec, 600 mm

If I had the opportunity to take this image again, and I may, I'd lower the ISO and shutter speed.  I've had luck with speeds of 1/1000 sec at 600 mm.  I might have captured a bit more detail with the lower ISO.

For the most part, I like (slightly) over contrasted images.  But I found with the nature images, the more realistic the better.  I can live with that.  But sometimes you to get back in your comfort zone when your new rule doesn't work out so well, and the slightly over contrast works for me here.