....i'm sure the unseen matrix of blur compromised sharpness, but overall, it's not too bad

That's outstanding!

But if that’s the same eagle that tried to swoop down and pick up my dog on the farm last year, you missed the pattern of my tennis racket on his hind end.

.....you carry a tennis racket when you walk your dog on a farm?

there's gotta be a great story behind all that.

but obviously looks like lunch to the eagle that seems to spot her every time we walk out to the barn. He came pretty close one time and only missed getting her when I jumped around screaming and waving my arms. From then on I carried a tennis racket to wave around just in case. We’ve since gone with the leash which she hates, but since it’s my daughter’s farm, I would hate to be responsible for losing her dog when I’m visiting

So glad you tried the shot - that is an amazing result!

The Eagle that represents USA. Maybe the white stuff up the nose is symbolic as well.

but it is annoying in the pic

it is they go for the winter.

i didn't think eagles migrated.

have done to make nests for the raptors the bald eagles and hawks have come back to this area...

when i lived in FL i raised a baby red shouldered hawk that fell from a nest. when it reached adulthood, it was so well behaved with me that i didn't need to wear a glove when it perched on my arm.

Great shot of our majestic symbol

...but you know what ben franklin said about them?

...way out of focus. it's why dust and smudges on your lens don't show up in photos. but normally, your subject needs to be a good distance from the bars or screen in the cage......this eagle was right up to the mesh. the fact that i was using a telephoto lens at its widest aperture (f/4) and that i was so close to the subject (within about 8 feet) is what made the depth of field in the shot so narrow....but still, i wouldn't expect that the mesh would be completely invisibly.....i figured there's be some out of focus lines showing up. i imagine the overall sharpness of the shot was compromised, but at least no obstruction was visible.

on Vashon Island, WA. I love them and all of the wildlife here.

friends' house. Pretty high up. One can see the nest from the back of their house. We see them at the beach and on the KVI tower on the beach.

....but when i get back to CR and spend time around the monkeys with the new gear, i hope to make something amazing!

we watch them all the time.. love the close up of the head and the feather in his nose.. looking forward to more.

Aarf!

Nice pic! What Image Quality setting did you shoot this with? And in general?

I just got a new Z7II this last July from B&H with a 24-120 S 4.0 and 14-30 S 4.0. Fun stuff! Finally sold most of my old large and medium format gear (Linhof Tech IV, Mamiya RB67 stuff).

Still deciding on resolution modes to shoot in. 50 MB individual files takes up a lot of storage.

i shoot RAW + jpg fine (heif). anything i post anywhere, i process from RAW and only save the jpg for reference.

and VR for smaller f stops.

It’s weird paying 1,400 or more for a zoom when really fine large format prime lenses for my Linhof 4x5 might cost 500 for nice Schneider.

As I wrote I have a 14-30 and the 24-120 so I’m thinking about the new-ish 100-400 S as a next lens.

So far so good. It’s all very new to me.

Sometimes that works and sometimes not. Good shot!

i wouldn't have thought the screen would be rendered invisible.

It really depends on the screen, distance of subject and the lens. For me it's 50/50 so I try to avoid those shots... but I still try on occasion.

You do know that DU has a member themed photo contest. Don't recall others you may have posted, but I'd sure love see more. (for encouragement). Perhaps a photograph group member can assist you for those. I sure hope to see more of your shots.

.....but i'm happy just to watch it from the sidelines.

i've been posting photos in this group for years. i live in costa rica so most of my photos are wildlife shots. here are a few to give you an idea of what i do:









































here are some shots from the US:

even tho i studied film photography in college in the 1980s and had been shooting for decades, i took a long hiatus from it and only got back into it seriously in the last 4 or 5 years. the weak link for me, at the moment, is post production. i plan to do some online training to improve that part.

And thanks for the description of camera settings!

normally, if you're shooting birds (and most other wildlife with a telephoto lens) you want to shoot wide open anyway...even if the animal is not captive with cage material to shoot through, there are branches, and foliage and other distractions that you want to render out of focus.

i can't remember which camera you had, but next time you go out to photograph birds, set the aperture to wide open (the smallest number) and set the camera to single point auto focus area mode and place the focus point somewhere near the center of the frame.....then when you see a bird within shooting distance, place that focus point over the eye, acquire focus and shoot.

when you shoot wide open, you're getting very little depth of field (range in front of and behind the subject that will be in reasonable focus) so you want to be dead on with the focal plane, and that's why you want to use single point auto focus area mode (instead of letting the camera decide where to focus)....the newer mirrorless cameras have animal eye detection AF area mode....i haven't tried it yet on my camera.