Immature Bateleur

[Rich Reich]

This immature Bateleur was taken in Tarangire National Park in Tanzania on September 20, 2013.
Niko D800, ISO 200, f/7.1, 1/400, 400mm handheld. The lens was the new Nikon 80-400mm.

Comments appreciated.

Rich Reich

[Marina Scarr]

You have a terrific pose on your raptor and I like the perch. Your bird looks as though it could use some sharpening and maybe a boost to make it pop a little. Could you please share your level of post processing knowledge?

I notice your ISO was set for 200. I think you will find that with bird photography and a D800, you'll rarely need to be anywhere under 400. I use the Canon 1D4 and I keep my ISO set to 800. Keeping your ISO higher will give you more leeway in terms of speed and/or DOF.

[Rich Reich]

I do my post processing with Lightroom. I added sharpening and increased the black level, contrast and clarity. Have I reached the level of improvement that you feel is optimum? What else would you suggest?

I'm glad you mentioned the ISO of 200. Almost all my other images on this trip were shot at ISO of 400 or 800. Shooting this image at 200 was a bit of an experiment to see if it produced a cleaner image. I have been very satisfied with the images using iso 400 & 800. Your comment confirms my feeling that using 400 & 800 routinely is perfectly satisfactory for bird photography.

Thanks

[Daniel Cadieux]

The repost "pops" a lot more and the sharpening better. Great looking bird, and I love the ruffled look and separation between the feathers. Perch looks good, and the vegetation at left too. Not crazy about the thin twigs in upper right, but they do balance the comp somewhat as there would be a huge their if there was nothing...I actually wish there was thicker stuff up there. Hope you like your new lens!

[Marina Scarr]

The RP definitely looks better!

[Mervyn Marsh]

Awsome photo, awesome looking bird :)