Whistling Kite (Haliastur sphenurus)

[Mervyn Marsh]

Taken in NT Australia about six weeks ago.
f/7.1, 1/12500, iso 500, +0.3
500mm mk ii, 1.4x iii, 5d mk iii,
Got real close to this guy, taken hand held standing through my sun roof.
Was a full frame shot, had to add landscape and recompose as there was no room then sharpen resized file. Used a touch of darken/lighten center tool from coler efex. clone stamp an unwanted branch out.
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[Randy Stout]

Mervyn:

Great eye contact. Effective framing.

I do use the darken/lighten filter at times, but find it is easy to overdo it and make it look unnatural. Because the bird is already partly in shadow, I might be tempted to try it without the darken/lighten effect.

If you have time and don't mind, repost the file before that filter was applied, just to see where you started from.

Cheers

Randy

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Mervyn, the light cast on the head shows up the eye very well, and we have a good view of that destructive beak. The sky looks a touch too blue, but you were there. :w3

[Mervyn Marsh]

Hi Randy,
any feedback welcome. this is the photo without the darken/lighten center tool.
cheers
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[Daniel Cadieux]

That was an awesome opportunity you had to get so close to a raptor. I like the composition and sharpness/details. The main issue was the harsh light and its angle that has given lots of shade on this side of the subject. It did give you a perfect head angle though and that has illuminated the face very nicely. Stopping down to get the feet and perch in focus would have been ideal. Still a nice frame, and a scene I'm sure you'll remember for a long time!

[Randy Stout]

Mervyn:

I prefer the repost without the darken/lighten filter. The colors look better, and the shadowing on the body isn't quite as pronounce.
Good points from Stuart and Daniel.

Cheers

Randy