Stansbury Mountain Red-tailed Hawk

I like to photograph raptors (or most any bird, really) in this kind of light when I think I can get away with it.  When I first started photographing birds I always  made an effort to get the light source directly behind me and now I shudder to think of the interesting light I sometimes missed, especially since what I ended up with was often something rather mundane.

I recently posted a somewhat similar image of a red-tail but the poses and settings in the two photos are quite different from each other.

 

red-tailed-hawk-8399

1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

I found this hawk perched in dappled, directional light a few months ago.  It was near the bottom of a canyon in the Stansbury Mountains of Utah so I was looking slightly down on the bird –  a perspective I appreciate if the angle isn’t too steep.  I like the haughty pose – which was actually a reaction to another red-tail flying toward this bird. 

Ron

3 Comments

  1. I love the almost arrogant stance.

  2. I love this shot, Ron. As I said before, I love photographing the raptors, regardless of the light, but again, you nailed this one. BTW, the Red-tailed is the predominant hawk around these parts. But we also have a lot of Cooper’s and Sharp-shinned.

  3. Very regal looking juve caught in wonderful light! Perhaps this alert young bird will be sporting red tail feathers in the coming months.

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