Snail Kite

[Brian Wong]

EOS 40D, 500/4
1/2500, f/5, ISO 800, handheld on Jim's boat, manual exposure

Snail Kite

Photographed March while on Jim Neiger's and James Shadle's BAA approved "Best of Florida" workshop.

Almost banked close for us.

Thank you for looking, and your suggestions are appreciated.

[Ramon M. Casares]

The whites on the tail look a little burned on my computer, but I love this bird of prey and it is one of my favourites, this pictures is just wonderfull!!! I like it a lot, the pose and sharpness are awesome! Congrats!

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Brian,
selectively toning down the whites will put this one over the top! Very nice topside view and the sky gradation adds IMO to the overall appeal!

[Arthur Morris]

Both the whites and the calibration strip look fine from here. The near-half of the bird is spectacular with detail, but you needed the full bank in order to create The Bomb. Wonderfully sharp on the eye.

[Robert O'Toole]

Great detail and sharpness Brian. Wow. Another 1/2500 th image...I would have went with ISO 400 and less SS. But anyway the DOF is incredible with a 1.6x camera. Dont ever go with a full frame camera, you will hate it. You would need F8 for the same DOF, due to the distance from the subject vs. the crop.

Robert

[Jay Tan]

Very good sharpness and sweet light on the bird! The gradual shifting in tone in the sky is also nice. Agree with Artie's comment about more banking.

[Gerard Satherley]

Amazing flight shot. Love the detail and light.

Gerard

[Dan O'Leary]

Beautiful image. The DOF and lighting give it an almost 3d feel, but, for me, the background sky color puts this over the top. I have two criticisms. First, I'd like to see a tad more BG below the bird. Second, to me it looks a bit oversharpened, esp. around the head and eye where I see a bit of halo effect going on.

Most of the time I post a snail kite image folks remark that the tail whites are blown out. This is not the case, but the bright white feathers are a strong contrast to the browns and have very little detail, therefore appear overexposed. Great work on the exposure. I know Jim never leaves ISO 800.