Lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni)

[Juan Aragonés]

Here another image from my weekend photographing bustards in Extremadura (Western Spain). I capture this male in flight early in the morning of a beautifull sunny day. Hope you like this one and feel free to criticize and comment. Thanks for looking
http://www.naturescapes.net/phpBB2/images/smiles/icon_cool.gif
Nikon D2X, AFS Nikkor 300 VR f3,5 1/800s VR off, handheld, HSC mode (6Mp)

[Lance Warley]

Beautiful light on the bird, beautiful bg, Juan.

Superb.

[Fabs Forns]

Excellent fly pose, Juan. Eye contact and all. I would select the darker part of the face and lift it a bit, also the darker wingtip and f it's OK with you, get rid of the to white blotches at the corners.

[Fabs Forns]

This is what I meant. I could do a goof job on the right because I wanted to leave your copyright intact.

Selected the darker part with quick mask and ran curves. Once with both included and once wit just the head.
Also used the same method of selection to cover the white spots.
Hope you like it.
Remember I'm working fast and with very few pixels.

[Alfred Forns]

HI Juan One incredible bg !!!! A think of beauty and fitting for the lovely bird

Fully agree with Fabs The corner blotches particularly catch my eye !!! Love this image!!!!

[Philip Lombard]

Super shot, love Fabs adjsutments.

[Juan Aragonés]

Thanks for the input. Fabs I will try to apply your suggestion to the original file. I agree about the BG but not sure about the dark face of the kestrel. In the original file, the dark area of the face is noticeably darker and I worked on it to add some light but I was not very happy with the result due to noise issues. In this small jpeg is not very noticeable but in the larger file the noise was unpleasant. I will try your method and lets see what happens. You work fast and with very few pixels but you made a great job. Thanks for the excellent suggestion and I totally agree :)

[Arthur Morris]

Lovely bird and lovely image. I agree on the whitish corners... I just love the dorsal view.

[Gus Cobos]

Great image Juan,
Love the flight angle, and the colors of the background, the details on your bird are nice and sharp with good eye contact. Agree with Fabs on the smokey light blotches on the corner..

Congrats...:D

[Brian Wong]

Hi Juan!

I like the top side view and the spread wings and tail, and the diagonal pose. I like the repost, but I especially like the direct eye contact. Very nice!

[Dean Ingwersen]

Fantastic view, light, comp, etc. Agree that image is improved with the white corners removed. Great work.

[Steve Canuel]

Nice BG color and I really like the angle of the body and head and the way the wings cross the frame.
Steve

[Marko Matesic]

Just incredible...fantastic...pose ,BG and everything !