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Keepers Of The Horizon
Keepers Of The Horizon
smardaz


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Free Study 2026-01 (Standard Editing)
Collection: challenge entries
Camera: Canon EOS-5D Mark II
Lens: Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C
Location: Tacoma, Washington
Date: Jan 10, 2026
Aperture: 6.3
ISO: 100
Shutter: 1/640
Date Uploaded: Jan 28, 2026

 Well...Looks like I am back.

I am NOT happy with this edit. I decided to stop paying Adobe monthly and edited this with Darktable. I am not familiar with it or Gimp at all and this is a learning curve, so this edit is very basic. Additionally, I edited on my mac mini and apple display and it looks distinctly softer and darker on my windows machine so god only knows how it will look to everyone else. I am very much out of practice for DPC. I expect this will not score well.

These two like to hang out in a tree behind my house from time to time, alone or as a pair. They seem quite unbothered by me when I fumble out onto the deck in a rush to snap as many pictures as I can.

all adjustments were in dark table using exposure, tone eq and contrast eq

[Feb. 3rd, 2026 12:28:48 AM]

outtake:

Statistics
Place: 16 out of 40
Avg (all users): 6.1481
Avg (participants): 5.8947
Avg (non-participants): 6.7500
Views since voting: 83
Views during voting: 53
Votes: 27
Comments: 4
Favorites: 0

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AuthorThread
Canon EOS-1000D Rebel XS
 02/27/2026 09:32:58 AM
Unbelievable! I think I would cry if I ever caught a shot like this, my goodness
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS-5D
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
 02/08/2026 10:33:25 AM
I was your 9, I thought this shot was incredible and I have no issues with your edit. This is an amazing capture it is just up against a tough field in a FS.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
Canon EOS M200
Canon EF-M 55-200mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM
 02/08/2026 07:33:03 AM
I had the unbelievable good fortune to photograph a pair of eagles like this on a lakeshore near here once, but nothing I captured had anything close to this level of resolution, so they sit on my hard drive as grainy "evidence" but nothing I'd share here.

I really enjoyed this one. The composition is very attractive. I understand your reservations in the processing, but I'm betting you'll be posting plenty of front-pagers soon enough.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II
Olympus 60mm f/2.8 Macro M.Zuiko Digital ED
 02/04/2026 11:27:58 PM
Great find. Interesting how much difference there is in their head shapes. A little bit of detail lost in the feathers but it's still a very nice capture.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
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