I need help on these!

[leelf62]

As you may know, I went on a guided tour of the Lackawaxen area with The Eagle Institute on Saturday, Feb. 13.  My goal was to take extraordinary shots of eagles.    What I was able to get were very unsatisfying because my almost 300mm lens was not enough.  When I cropped very tightly, I got a washed out image.  See what you can do with them.





I saw more eagles that day than I ever have seen anywhere! Eagles come to the area because the Upper Delaware is not frozen (as it is in Canada) and there is access to food.   It was fantastic; but, with anything less than 1000mm, it was frustrating.  So, Alex, Ed, anyone, can you do anything with these?
Appreciate any suggestions.
Lee

PS:  It was 20 degrees for most of the day.  I HATE the cold.  I was dressed for the Yukon, so cold wasn't the issue.  Proximity was the problem.

[diddee]

Lee - since the images are so monochromatic due to the weather and where the eagles were, why not convert to black and white.  Maybe make them really edgy.  Take advantage of all of the great lines going through the frame.

Sandy and I tried to stalk a bald eagle one day.  We were doing a good job of getting close enough for a good shot when someone (not mentioning who) fell on their duff on the ice and let out a string of very unladylike comments.  I thought those sweet southern ladies didn't know those words.

The eagle flew off.  We gave up since we were cold and headed to the parking lot.  Believe it or not, the eagle circled over our heads at the parking lot, as if to mock us.

I have decided birds are not my forte.

[leelf62]

b&w is the way to go, Judy.  I think maybe "painting" the birds might work and make it a very abstract piece.  I did crop one shot to focus in on two mature birds and after "de-noising" it, it looked like something Braque or Picasso might have done, lol.  Thanks!

[lotus]

Thank you for this exercise, Lee!  

[diddee]

We all see things differently.  Sorry, about the low resolution.  Just converted and cropped.

[diddee]

Wow, now that I see it posted, I am REALLY sorry about the low resolution.  Looks pretty crappy on my screen.  But I just wanted to illustrate the crop that I saw available with all of the great lines.

Lee - these actually could end up being some very fun and interesting shots.  Thank goodness you have the full res. version.

[leelf62]

This is what I had done before I posted here.  I used Dfine noise reduction which distorted things a bit.  I didn't get to "paint" yet.  I'm not sure how much time I want to spend on this...trying to make something out of "nothing".  Oh, well.

[leelf62]

I like this one.  I was in the parking lot, poking around in 20 degree weather waiting for the bus and I caught this eagle in the tree next to the lot.  He stayed a long time.  I used my Olympus E30 with 50-200mm and a 1.4x teleconverter.