Osprey Studies / Portraits

I've been tracking a number of Ospreys around the area of late, and have been spending some time working on gaining their trust to get closer and closer to them. Yesterday it paid off, as this chap was more than happy for me to get so close that I actually had to step back as I was inside the minimum focusing distance of the 500. He wasn't stressed at all (had he have been I would not have moved in so near), indeed, he now seems quite happy to pose for me.

He hung around till I felt I got what I needed and I moved away, then so did he.

Hope you like these. Feedback most welcome.

The first was taken against a blanket of cloud that moved away as I sat with the guy so I also managed to get a little blue sky for the others.

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Oh MY Andrew! That is CLOSE! Wonderful images!!

These are great, Andrew. Sometimes I think as photographers we get obsessed with close-ups and forget the beauty of capturing a bird in its environments. Having said that, it is always a treat to be able to closely examine a bird whose fine features we would otherwise never see. Well done.
Al

Wow, great job and your efforts really paid off. Incredible to be so close to a wild bird. Osprey don't do well in captivity, so it's not often that anyone could get such detailed closeups!

Stunning. The blue background is really effective.

Well done, Andrew, I love these. The first one, he looks a bit goofy, maybe you picked the dunce of the nest to get close to

These are so close and wonderful shots Andrew, now that is trust!

Great shots. I do notice some evidence of an over sharpening effect around the head and beak. Did you use CS5? If you did and applied clarity in RAW this can happen where it creats edge glow or just using the global sharpen feature that applys it to the entire photo. I have had this happen before also. Sometimes it is best to use smart sharpen or the quick select tool in CS5 to isolate the bird from the BG to apply smart sharpen or a high pass filter, but the high pass can make things worse.

They are still nice photos with great detail.

Flo wrote in post #15198258
Oh MY Andrew! That is CLOSE! Wonderful images!!

Thank you, Flo!

CDMOOSE wrote in post #15198408
These are great, Andrew. Sometimes I think as photographers we get obsessed with close-ups and forget the beauty of capturing a bird in its environments. Having said that, it is always a treat to be able to closely examine a bird whose fine features we would otherwise never see. Well done.
Al

I agree, and I got a fair few 'non-close-up' shots (the Nankeen Kestrel I posted last being a good example) but as I was after close-ups of an Osprey for so very long I got the chance and decided I could not pass it up. I have been out since waiting to see if he would fish before me, to get more 'contextual' shots but, so far, no joy...

gymell wrote in post #15198509
Wow, great job and your efforts really paid off. Incredible to be so close to a wild bird. Osprey don't do well in captivity, so it's not often that anyone could get such detailed closeups!

Thanks so much. I got lucky, for sure.

Mike wrote in post #15198528
Stunning. The blue background is really effective.

Thank you, Mike.

Wallace River wrote in post #15198584
Well done, Andrew, I love these. The first one, he looks a bit goofy, maybe you picked the dunce of the nest to get close to

Thanks, Ian. He does look goofy in the first image, totally agree, lol.

Lester Wareham wrote in post #15199222
These are so close and wonderful shots Andrew, now that is trust!

Thank you, Lester, much appreciated.

No Angle wrote in post #15199727
Great shots. I do notice some evidence of an over sharpening effect around the head and beak. Did you use CS5? If you did and applied clarity in RAW this can happen where it creats edge glow or just using the global sharpen feature that applys it to the entire photo. I have had this happen before also. Sometimes it is best to use smart sharpen or the quick select tool in CS5 to isolate the bird from the BG to apply smart sharpen or a high pass filter, but the high pass can make things worse.

They are still nice photos with great detail.

Yup, with you on that, thanks for the heads up, its not hardcore but, yeah, there is slight evidence as you say and there should not be. I'll slap my wrist on this.

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Loverly!

Thanks, Jay.

Wow, these are great shots.

Amazing shots Andrew ,getting such close ups of wild Raptors .....WOW......... Look at those eyes. Great job .

Thank you very much, both, much appreciated.

They are simply awesome Andrew, amazingly close and so clear and detailed.