Thanks! It was pretty exciting! There of course wasn't a little bird to be seen or heard at the time but they came back about 15 mins. after he left. I wish I would have caught him swooping down! I couldn't get good angle out my barely opened window when he flew away. I'm sure glad I didn't see him eating a bird in my yard though! Before he flew off he dove into my bushes but I think he mistook a leaf blowing in the wind for a mouse. If it was a mouse I hope he took off with it!
Sure glad my little Sammy wasn't outside at the time!
I just wanted to post one more of the hawk. This one I tried Joel's technique with using gaussian blur. I guess it doesn't work to well on grass but I think the bird turned out ok.
IMG_6075 by Denise Trocio, on Flickr
I am jealous....wow....such a close encounter with a Cooper's, fantastic shots.
I think the blur on the BG will work but in this case you may need to do a couple other things.......
1. The bird needs to be a little brighter overall compared to the BG
2. Using more noise reduction and reducing contrasr just on the BG will help too.
Really unusual opportunity ... he must be hunting your song birds, I see these swoop through the tress behind my house and they perch at a distance but never have been this close...kudos for being ready.
And yet another Bosque image....sorry....decided to take Nik Silver Efex for a spin!
It seems to make really nice B&W conversions.
Canon 5D Mk II, 550D/T2i, 50mm f/1.4 USM, 100mm f/2.8 L USM, 17-40mm f/4 L USM, 24-105mm f/4 L USM, 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM, 320EX speedlite
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/franco_ng/
Thanks Bob, I generally like color better as well ... here's a backyard visitor this morning, we have about 1/2" of snow and it's 25 degrees.