![\"red-tailed](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/red-tailed-hawk-8698-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n1\/2000, f\/8, ISO 500, Canon 7D, 100-400 @ 400mm, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Recently I’ve spent several days with this Red-tailed Hawk as it hunted voles from relatively short power poles in Utah County.\u00a0 Usually when it spotted prey it was far enough away that the bird took off at a normal angle but occasionally the vole would be relatively close to the\u00a0perch so the bird would launch at a steep angle.\u00a0 I think the angle and wing position of such shots adds to the drama.<\/p>\n But with a featureless blue sky as background it begs the question – “was this the true angle of the bird?”.\u00a0 There are no visual cues in the background (such as a horizon line)\u00a0as to what is “level” and when one shoots hand-held or from a vehicle window it’s very easy, even typical, for the camera to be seriously off level as you follow the bird.\u00a0 In cases like this it may even be tempting for the ethics-challenged photographer to artificially exaggerate the angle during processing by using the “rotate” tool.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/8, ISO 500, Canon 7D, 100-400 @ 400mm, wire removed, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n This is the next frame in the sequence and even though the hawk isn’t as sharp as I’d like I’ll use the image to make\u00a0my point.\u00a0 It can be surprising where the photographer can find cues as to what angle is truly level (or at least close to it)\u00a0– either in the image in question or in previous or subsequent images.\u00a0\u00a0 There have been times when I’ve gone to other images in the\u00a0sequence for the cues I needed – horizon lines, vertical elements like vegetation or a whole host of other possibilities.<\/p>\n In this case my visual cue was one of those blasted power lines that I’ve complained about so often.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/8, ISO 500, Canon 7D, 100-400 @ 400mm, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n This is the same image as the one above without the wire removed.\u00a0 I made the assumption that the wire was\u00a0fairly close to level so I rotated the image to level the wire before I removed it.\u00a0 I’m sure the wire was at a bit of an angle as it came off the pole but still I’m confident that\u00a0that this was reasonably close to the true angle of the bird as it came off the pole.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n