Lady Kestrel with Praying Mantis

[David Salem]

After hanging out with this female Kestrel for a few months last winter I was able to document her catching many different prey items. This was a really cool one that I had not seen before.

1DMkIV---700mm---f7.1---ss1/3200---ISO640---HH from truck@ 3:45pm---30% crop

Thanks as always for looking and for your input. I appreciate it.

David

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

David, this is impressive! Great exposure, colours and detail. I like the BG, HA and the prey is a bonus! Well done!

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi David very nice with the praying mantis as prey . I like the pose and the clean image design ,Good tonal range and nice details.

Iq is not as your usual standard , i feel . You have some softness in the subject ? the perch is looking very soft , too. No color profile attached :w3.

TFS Andreas

[David Salem]

Thanks Sanjeev and Andreas.

Andreas, I processed this one about a year ago and I may have forgotten to sharpen for the web some more but I thought it looked pretty good overall.
The perch being not sharp is due to the close range and the narrow depth of field when I was shooting this bird as I was usually within
25 feet of her. Also this bird was constantly hunting and I was always ready for a flight shot so a high shutter speed was a constant along with a wider aperture so the DOF may be a bit narrow.
Thanks again.

[Richard Flack]

Hi David, beautiful composition and colours and the praying mantis is a real bonus. As you say I think the DOF may be a bit narrow and there are a few soft places. That said, if it was mine I would be super happy. Cheers. Rich

[Ian Wilson]

Looks pretty good to me David. Great capture with the mantis and a splendid soft background working in harmony with the main subject. Beautiful work, well done. Regards, Ian

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the pose, perch, prey, HA, exposure, composition and complimentary BG. Well done David.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Dave, great angled pose and not to mention a good HA too. I like the overall colours on this lady, and the feather detail looks pretty good to me. That Praying Mantis sure looks like he's praying. :w3

[Daniel Cadieux]

I do see what Andreas means, but I imagine the full rez version is quite impressive. I like the image with a nice BG, neat perch, and even better prey item.

[David Salem]

Thanks for the comments everyone.
I will try to remember to stop down next time I am in this situation but it,s hard to when the action is happening:S3:

[David Salem]

I went to back to my original file and found that this shot wasn't as close as I thought and was taken early in my relationship with lady Kestrel so I kept to a reasonable distance.
It was about a 50% crop so the IQ did suffer a bit. This is the next frame and it looks a bit better for some reason. The perch is more in focus and the bird looks a bit better too. I posted the first one because I liked the HA better. What do you think about this head angle? It's not looking at me but is a perfect side profile.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

[arash_hazeghi]

love the pose and light, prey is awesome too. I think with better processing IQ would be much better. there are some halos and artifacts.

I can't wait to come down there again!

[Enrique Patino]

Great image... I would try again from the raw file... :)

[Binu John]

Superb shot, David! I like the IQ of the second image and the pose in the first one. I think it's worth processing the first version again. Love the perch and BG! TFS

[Greg Oakley]

Super work David - agree with Binu that the pose is better in the first and worth pursuing further...

[John Robinson]

First looks OK to me.
JohnR

[Grace Scalzo]

We are super picky with each other (as we should be) and while the IQ has been discussed, it is still an eye catching image with a great bird and prey. Colors are superb.

[Gerald Kelberg]

Stunning pose in the original post - so another vote for re-processing that one!

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

David this one is pretty nice! what a superb light and the prey just adds to this one very nicely. Thanks for sharing!

[David Salem]

Thanks so much everyone for the input and the help. I am glad you like the shot. I won't re-post but I will start from scratch on this one and see how it looks.

Thanks Arash, maybe you can give me a hand with this one when you come down next:)

[arash_hazeghi]

Thanks so much everyone for the input and the help. I am glad you like the shot. I won't re-post but I will start from scratch on this one and see how it looks.

Thanks Arash, maybe you can give me a hand with this one when you come down next:)

email me the RAW file

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent image with beautiful color pallet.

Regards,
Satish.

[Frank Schauf]

Fantastic. Wonderful pose, colors and background.