Nature Photography Photo Critique

No doubt about what your subject is here. I don't see red-shouldered hawks in my neck of the woods. Initially, I thought it was a rufous morph red-tail, then saw the white crescent on the primaries and the white on the tail. The hawk is the only subject and is dominant in the frame. I'm a little biased toward raptors (if you've read my other reviews), so I think your subject matter here is great.

Your placement of the subject is good and I like the upward angle creating an active diagonal in the frame. There is room around the subject to enter from and move into. The gesture of the hawk calling calling gives more life to it. You've caught the wings in a good position to show the back and head clearly. This angle makes identification of the bird slightly more challenging because more of the obvious characteristics are hidden from view (at least to those unfamiliar with seeing this species in flight), but the action is captured nicely.

Looks like the focus is good. In my review size of the image, the hawk seems to be slightly soft, particularly the head (which could be addressed with sharpening techniques). The 7D has really good AI focus accuracy and you can, under the custom functions, adjust the AF sensitivity to help focus tracking on swiftly moving subjects. I'm seeing some pixel artifacts around the head and tail also.

Your technique to capture this hawk in flight is good, your lens choice is correct. Exposure is accurate and the shutter speed selected is adequate to freeze the wings in motion.

Color/white balance is accurate and lighting is adequate to provide details in the feathers. You're at a good angle for a catchlight in the eye and you can see the characteristic white crescent in the primaries and a bit of the rufous coloring on the shoulder (this one has darker-coloring than I've typically seen)

Depth of field is good for the parts that need to be in focus.

I like the action of the hawk, in flight screaming, the angle, and placement of the hawk in the frame. The action tells a story - was it screaming at you? Red-shouldered hawks are the more vocal of the Buteos, they squawk at most anything. A very nice shot.