Bald Eagle

Someone on Facebook had recently posted some awesome photos of the birds at the Howell Nature Center and I had been dying to get over there and try to get some pics myself! Well, last weekend, the weather was finally nice enough to go outside without completely bundling up, so I dusted off my camera gear and made the trip to the Howell Nature Center.

All of the animals in Howell Nature Center’s Wildlife Park are animals that could not be rehabilitated and released back into the wild. Besides Keelee, this beautiful Bald Eagle, the Wildlife Park is home to bobcats, porcupines, and Livingston County’s Groundhog – Woody the Woodchuck. While the Nature Center is fabulous for photographers, kids love it too because of the beautiful, interactive nature playground!

About this Photo:
Since Keelee was behind bars, this was shot with a longer focal length to blur out the cage (this was trickier when the animals were sitting close to the bars). This photo was definitely not a one and done, I stayed and watched him for a while, and luckily someone he knew walked by and he started to talk! This was a single RAW exposure with basic edits done in Lightroom. Those basic edits didn’t remove or lessen the bar lines that were in the dead space (this is what’s tricky about shooting through a cage) so I pulled it into Photoshop and removed the background. Voila!

Camera Gear:
Nikon D3100 with 55-200mm f/4-5.6 lens.

Date Taken:
March 2016

Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on  Flickr! This month I am taking part of an Instagram Travel Challenge, posting a travel photo a day on Instagram and I’d love for you to follow along! For more information about the Howell Nature Center, visit HowellNatureCenter.org.