Bald eagle

[windrider86]

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/alockintime/2258167616/" title="Eagle by windrider86, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2252/2258167616_d50807213c.jpg" width="357" height="500" alt="Eagle" /></a>

Went out on a mission to get some shots of eagles yesterday and I got quite a few. I got as close as I could before he flew off and this was what i came up with. Any suggestions for bringing him in any closer without losing any detail? I oushed my lens as far as i could which may have ben pushing too far. I didnt have any luck and in fact think this one is a bit too soft for comfort. I also boosted up the stauration on the sky as it was nearly white, too much?
So today I have to go towrk with my face all scabbed up. In my excitement I was afraid if I opened the door it would scare him so I was trying to climb out the truck window and sit on the rim and in doing so caught my face on the deflectors. So now my entire nose is scabbed up, swollen and black and blue but hey, I got a shot of a bald eagle! lol
f/8, 150mm, 100 iso

[stopit]

Hi windrider86,

Regarding increasing the size of your image without losing detail, there is a technique in "The Photoshop Book" written by Scott Kelby that claims this can be done. In fact it claims you can turn a 300dpi 4x6 image into a poster size photo without losing much detail, simply by increasing the size by 10% over and over again. I have tried this and have had good results with some pics but less than satisfactory results with others.

I tried it with your image but since the resolution is only 72dpi it didn't seem to work very well. Perhaps if you tried it on the original you might have better results. anyway here is the way it's done:

Image> Image Size make sure the Resample Image and Constrain Proportion boxes are checked.

In the Document Size portion of the Dialog box switch the unit of measurement from inches to percent and type in 110.

This will increase the size by 10%. Reapet this as many times as you need to achieve the final desired size. It may be a good idea to create an Action for this so you don't have to keep increasing the size by doing each step manually.

[windrider86]

Didnt have any luck but thank you for the idea, it may work on another one!

[PnwGuy]

I rented a 500mm lens for my eagle shots. You really need some extra reach which will help with the quality and being able to fill the frame. I'm not sure of lens rental options in your area but I do know there are some online lens rental stores.

Just something to think about.

[windrider86]

oh boy dont I wish! I live outside of a town where there are only 2 stop lights and the nearest "city" that might have something is over a hundred miles away.