Close-up photos of an American Bald Eagle...great references for artists

If you're a bird artist, you're probably always looking for ways to study birds up close, but it's hard to sneak up on an American Bald Eagle in the wild, so if you're an artist looking for close-up reference images of an American Bald Eagle, feel free to use these.

This American Bald Eagle was part of an education program from Back to the Wild, a volunteer, non-profit wildlife rehabilitation and nature education center located in northwest Ohio. I was at the Midwest Birding Symposium in Lakeside, Ohio when I saw their tent set up in the vendor area. Just like RAPTOR, Inc. (from my previous posts), Back to the Wild's primary mission is to rehabilitate and release injured, orphaned and displaced wildlife back to the wild...

...a closeup of an American Bald Eagle. Nothing beats that profile...

I had just come out of a lecture and didn't have my big camera with me, so I took these photos with my little Panasonic LUMIX DMC-257. For being such a small camera, it has a nice little zoom. I always regret not taking my Nikon with me wherever I go, but I had no idea these gorgeous birds would be working that day.

...another closeup. It's almost the same shot, but the there is a subtle shift in his head tilt. The down-tilted angle changes the mood captured in the image, creating a more aggressive feel. It all centers around the line of his brow. This photo can help artists see how a tiny shift in the angle of the eye creates a not-so subtle shift in the mood...

A quick bit about the boney ridge above the eagle's eye...

The fierce glare of an eagle is all because of the oversized supraorbital ridge that makes up the eagle's brow. This boney ridge makes the bird look tough, formidable, and no-nonsense, but really the supraorbital ridge is only there to block the sun and eliminate its glare so the bird has an easier time hunting. As humans, we interpret the look as a scowl that denotes power and strength, because in our faces, emotions can be deciphered from a shifting brow—a downward slanted brow indicates concentration, anger, or attack. The eagle can not change the position of the supraorbital ridge, and he doesn't have an eyebrow to move around freely, but as artists, we can shift the position of the head to make the slant of the supraorbital ridge a bit deeper, which then creates mood and emotion for the viewer. (Click here for previous posts on the supraorbital ridge.)

...this angle is more contemplative. We equate this gaze as far reaching and noble. The supraorbital ridge is exactly the same, but we perceive the angle of the brow and chin as a mood shift. It's strange how we can pin human characteristics to a bird to create a mood in art, but it's not surprising...

...it also explains why so many sports teams choose hawks and eagles as their namesakes instead of owls and ospreys. How many times have you heard someone shout, "Go Owls!" The owl is every bit as powerful a hunter and can inflict just as much damage as an eagle or hawk, but because it lacks the oversized supraorbital ridge, it carries a different "expression" on its face. Without the scowl, aggression does not register in the viewer and no fight-or-flight adrenalin is produced either. Owls are considered "wise" and hawks "tough," and the poor ospreys, even though they can rip flesh apart with the best of them, they seem to have a perpetually "surprised" look on their faces. "Go Ospreys!" Intellectually, we know what's what, but artistically, emotion can be produced in a glance, and there's nothing we can do about it...

...a full-bodied shot of an American Bald Eagle. This photo is certainly not going to win any awards. Yuck, it's out of focus and people and cars are in the background, but an artist can use it to spark an idea or refer to it for proportion. When I look at this photo, I see an eagle perched on the edge of a nest looking towards its mate approaching with prey...

...artists can get lost in the beautiful and intricate patterns that show in an eagle's wings. Since the wing feathers are so large and pronounced, the pattern is striking.

I always feel sad when I see birds that have been injured so badly they can't heal well enough to live in the wild, but it's nice to know that most of the birds recovered by Back to the Wild are rehabilitated and released and go on to live out their lives in the wild. I also feel like I'm cheating when I photograph these birds. They are tethered and can't fly away, but I know these close-up photos are a great way for artists to study raptors. (Click here for close-up photos of RAPTOR, Inc.'s birds of prey. Artists can also use these photos as references.)