A sunrise shot taken on July 28, 2014, at the Ridgefield NWR. This Red-tailed Hawk was showing off its beautiful feather detail but may have forgotten to check the mirror this morning for its out of place feathers. Regardless, a beautiful bird — one of 3 or 4 I saw at the refuge today, relatively close up. It’s good to see these raptors in the middle of summer here. Canon 5D Mark III, 1/1250, f5, ISO 500, 500mm, 6:31 a.m.
P.S. I really like the new selection tool in Photoshop CC called Focus Area. I used it here to quickly isolate the bird and perch from the background. I used a blur brush created in Nik Color Efex Pro to selectively blur the branches behind the bird to make them appear further away — making the bird pop a little more.
Perfection! Thank you for sharing your techniques!
I appreciate it, Christy! Glad to share!