Lovely Kestrel

[Richard Davies]

Finally a bit of blue sky and light for this shot, outside my local airfield.

Took with a 7DMKII with a Sigma 800mm and a 1.4x Kenko. Handheld. 1/500sec F/8.

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8623/16212478006_ac6708e1ac_c.jpg

[Randy Stout]

Richard:

A big welcome to BPN!

What a monster to hand hold, and to have it sharp at that focal length and slow shutter speed.

I like the intense downward stare, as if hunting. Nice sky. Pretty deep shadows.

The crop is a bit too tight for my personal taste. One of the benefits of a zoom is to be able to zoom out a bit to keep the entire bird in the frame, with some room to fly into.

Look forward to more

[William Dickson]

Very nice image Richard, I agree with Randy that it is a wee bit tight in the frame. A faster shutter speed on this would have made this image even better. Thanks for sharing

[Grace Scalzo]

Welcome, RIchard. Nice was to start your journey here on BPN and I hope to see more of your work. Randy and William gave you some great ideas. I would add that I always like light in the eyes which is missing here.

[arash_hazeghi]

welcome to the forum Richard! you got pretty good feedback from Randy. He is a handsome Kestrel indeed but the steep angle, his head being turned away from us plus the clipped wings work against this image. Be sure to checkout Artie's head angle fine points in the resources section.

Good luck and TFS

[Richard Davies]

Thanks for all the advice, just need another sunny day to try and get a better shot. I agree with the wings being clipped, wish I got the whole bird in frame, I do have others from the same day with the whole Kestrel in the shot but this one just stood out for me.

Thanks for the warm welcome as well. Got many more to post and look forward to see what you think, this is the first time I really got into bird photography, my main is airshows/aircraft. So all help is very welcomed to get the best out of me.

[Eric Dienesch]

Hello,

a really close up.. and hand held.. wow.
I like it !!

Greetings Eric

[Miguel Palaviccini]

[QUOTE=Richard Davies;1041521]Sigma 800mm and a 1.4x Kenko. Handheld. 1/500sec.

QUOTE]

Wow! Handheld huh? That is quite impressive!

If this is a crop, it would be great to see the full file. I think a bit of room all around could really benefit the image.

[Richard Davies]

[QUOTE=Richard Davies;1041521]Sigma 800mm and a 1.4x Kenko. Handheld. 1/500sec.

QUOTE]

Wow! Handheld huh? That is quite impressive!

If this is a crop, it would be great to see the full file. I think a bit of room all around could really benefit the image.

It was a crop but I didn't get it all in frame which is a shame. Not sure if I'm allowed to do this but I'm guessing this sort of shot would of been better??

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8582/16052521767_0b28647695.jpg

Like has been said before a higher shutter speed would of been better, i did try to keep it down because of the 1.4x tele. Will try higher next time.