How I got this Bald Eagle Image

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

This bald eagle was captured with my Canon Mark IV in May of 2011.

I always carry my camera in the boat while I’m fishing. Why? Because I often see really cool photo opportunities while fishing. In the simplest of words, I was fishing for crappies and not catching them so I was watching this bald eagle as it sat in a tree across the bay. I was mentally prepared to grab the camera off the floor of my Fishhawk and I wasn’t surprised to see this bald eagle jump from the tree. I picked up my camera and pointed it the direction the bald eagle was flying toward and hit the hammer. I followed the bald eagle swooping down to grab the pike and hoped for the best! It was an experienced I still have not forgotten and I know the exact spot to this day.

In reviewing my images I had the eagle captured in multiple backgrounds with a variety of lighting and my camera was set to aperature priority. When this happens again…I won’t have the camera on aperture priority. I will set my camera speed to meet the potential of any background lighting and my camera will be set to a shutter speed of 3200 instead of varying from 800-1250. Lesson learned. Take that with you….pick the right shutter speed and you won’t get a soft image often. That said I like this shot….it prints well.

Revision on 10-7-24.

Reading this post again today I am revising what settings I’d have based on I now have a camera with auto ISO. So set on auto ISO I’d be set at 3200 and F5.6.