Bald eagle near Mendenhall Wetlands, Juneau, Alaska. Sony DKC-ID1 Digital camera

-- Barbara Kelly (Kellys@alaska.net), September 17, 1998

Answers

Because this is a rather simple composition, with a plain background and the bird and branches as the foreground, focus or lack of focus stands out. It appears to me that the bird and branches are out of focus which is distracting in this composition IMO. I think had the eagle been in focus, it would have brought this photo more to life.

-- Paul Lenson (lenson@pci.on.ca), September 17, 1998.

While I agree with Paul (perhaps spot focus more on the eye/head area), I can also appreciate the difficulty of shooting eagles and, hence, respect the shot, since it's better than any of my eagle ("find the bird in the picture") photos. Also, I like the way the snow on the trees parallels the white in the bird, as well as the way the bird is looking "into" the frame.

-- Sandy Quandt (sandyquandt@centuryinter.net), September 17, 1998.

For me, the part of the picture that works is the shades of brown and white in the eagle, tree limbs and snow. The photo is a tiny smidge of focus away from being very, very good indeed.

-- Brent Hutto (BHutto@InfoAve.Net), September 17, 1998.

The snow on the branches tells a story. Nice light except the eyes are in a shadow. To me if the eyes don't seem sharp, the animal doesn't look sharp. In this case if you had waited for the bird to rotate its head just a tad into the sun, the image would look sharper.

-- Larry Korhnak (lvk@gnv.ifas.ufl.edu), October 15, 1998.