For me, there are three kinds of Eagle pictures: Portrait, Interesting, and Action.

Portraits are an Eagle perched in a tree or on a fence post, sitting in the traditional regal pose with wings folded and beak raised slightly, head not quite in silhouette. This pose tells the world that they are the masters of the air.

An interesting picture is one where the Eagle cocks his head, looks down to survey its hunting ground, maybe some preening or flexing wings a little. The Eagle is on its perch but not assuming the regal pose described above.

Action photos speak for themselves. My action photos tend to be the moment of liftoff from a perch, possibly a couple more frames depending on the direction the Eagle takes. Sometimes, I can capture an Eagle in flight – generally tail feathers as they fly away (laughing all the way). Simply put, action photos imply movement and this post is about Eagles in motion! Now you understand the title of the post.

I have been fortunate to capture Eagles in flight at times, but never on the scale I’ve attained in this young Eagle Season (we’re just over halfway in!). I attribute my success to more patience while shooting, holding on a bit longer when photographing Eagle portraits and watching for the telltale signs that they Eagle might take flight. I also thank the Canon engineers for making their autofocus systems so much better so the camera holds focus on the subject in motion.

There are some challenges to making the liftoff pictures – let’s discuss them. Every decision in photography starts with the exposure triangle: aperture, shutter speed, and ISO.

Aperture is the opening that allows light onto the sensor. Large apertures allow more light but have a very short depth of field. Small apertures allow less light and have a deeper depth of field. Depth of field is the amount of the image that’s in focus, from near your camera to far away.

Shutter speed is the time the shutter is open. A fast shutter speed freezes motion and a slow shutter speed allows motion in a picture. A fast shutter speed keeps the detail in the Eagle in flight, and a slow shutter speed allows the wings to blur a bit.

ISO is the level of sensitivity in the camera’s sensor. A high ISO allows for taking pictures in lower light but introduces noise in the image. Modern camera systems are getting better every day in minimizing noise.

That’s not a detailed discussion of the elements of the exposure triangle, but it defines the terms enough for our discussion. One of the biggest challenges to Eagle photography is the color of the Eagles. Golden Eagles have dark brown feathers. Adult Bald Eagles have white heads and dark brown body feathers. Juvenile Bald Eagles have a mix of colors as they mature. The human eye can easily discern the difference in these colors, but cameras can not interpret the same tonal ranges. This makes proper exposure critical.

What is proper exposure? That depends on a multitude of other factors not directly related to the camera. Golden Eagle? Bald Eagle? Adult or Juvenile? Bright sun or shadow? My perfect conditions for Eagles is a slightly overcast sky that soften the sunlight, regardless of subject or surrounding area. I don’t get that often, so I have to make my settings match the light.

Then there’s the optics. I take pictures of Eagles using long focal length lenses, an 800 mm lens and a 100-500 mm lens. I also use a device called a teleconverter that magnifies what the camera sees. Remember my brief discussion on depth of field above? It gets more complicated because the longer the focal length on the lens, the depth of field compresses (becomes shorter). The longer the focal length, the less light can enter the camera body and hit the sensor. The best solution is higher ISO, but that introduces noise. Thank the engineers for making denoise software that corrects for that in the digital darkroom.

So that’s basic considerations. If your subject is in good, even light, shooting would be easy. But I want to be ready for the eventual liftoff so that’s where my settings are. I have my cameras set to shutter priority (Canon labels it Tv), 1/2000 second to freeze motion. At the focal length of my lenses, I let the camera pick. The cameras choices are limited however, so the piece of the exposure triangle that floats is the ISO. I set my cameras to Auto ISO, but I have a limit of 12,800 so I limit noise somewhat. Those settings generally serve me well, except in very low light (like an Eagle that has flown into a pine tree in a shadowy section).

Enough tech talk – let’s get into the pictures! All these images have been made in the last 2 months. Some of them have been on social media. Enjoy – PHOTOROGR