Female American Kestrel

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Hi All,

I made this image at Farmington Bay. I saw lot of people taking images of Kestrels and other Raptors. So I decided to check it out. I saw couple of male and Female Kestrels perched on braches right next to the road. I had the time to setup my tripod and the bird was very cooperative.


Nikon D500
500 f/4 + 1.4x TC + 12mm Extension Tube
ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/800 sec
Aperture Priority, Evaluative Metering, +1.7 Exposure Compensation

Minimal Post processing
Noise Reduction and Cropping

Let me know your comments and suggestions.

Thanks
Krishna

[Alex Becker]

Hi Krishna,

Nice shot! I like the details and pose and perch, although a shame about the one twig intersecting the bird. The bird looks a bit contrasty to me and wish we could see a bit more catchlight in the eye. I would also maybe think about removing the far right twig. Thanks for sharing!

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Hi Alex,

Thank you for the comments. I wish there was a catchlight. It was very overcast and I was thinking of using my flash but I guess I decided against it. I will be heading out to this location again in the coming weeks and will try to use flash this time.

Thanks
Krishna

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi Krishna, it was a nice find. not sure why you were using an extension tube? He was looking away from us and the image is too contrasty/lacking in details as Alex pointed out, this usually comes from non optimal processing TFS

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Hi Arash,

After taking few images with just the Teleconvertor. I wanted to add 12mm extension tube. I wanted to do that after observing a blog post from Artie which said that use extension tubes to increase the subject size. I figured that the I was not focusing at Infinity and decided to give that a try. Regarding the image being too contrasty and lacking in detail, I will revisit the image again will repost

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Another Attempt at re processing based on the comments.

Let me know where I am doing wrong in the post processing.

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi Arash,

After taking few images with just the Teleconvertor. I wanted to add 12mm extension tube. I wanted to do that after observing a blog post from Artie which said that use extension tubes to increase the subject size. I figured that the I was not focusing at Infinity and decided to give that a try. Regarding the image being too contrasty and lacking in detail, I will revisit the image again will repost

Krishna, extension tube has no effect on this image, extension tube is used when you are working at MFD (minimum focus distance) and you want to get even closer to your subject.

[arash_hazeghi]

The repost is a bit better, it still has a red color cast. best

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Thank you for the information related to post processing.

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Krishna, extension tube has no effect on this image, extension tube is used when you are working at MFD (minimum focus distance) and you want to get even closer to your subject.

Hi Arash,

Thank you for the reply. Please take a look at this post

http://www.birdsasart-blog.com/2016/12/30/whaddya-do-with-a-softbox-sky-my-favorite-penguin-chick-rig-why-a-12mm-extension-tube-and-why-expose-so-far-to-the-right/

Unless I am mistaken Artie said in this post that 12mm Extension Tube will increase the Image size by 4%. I have taken series on shots with and without extension tube at 700mm keeping distance between subject and me constant and I can say that image size increased. Although I do not know how I can check and confirm that extension tube was present from EXIF data.

Let me know your thoughts on the same.

[arash_hazeghi]

Krishna, it will increase the size slightly if you are working at distances larger than MFD but there is really no point in doing it.

4% difference is close to nothing. as I said extension tube is used when you are a MFD and want to make the subject much larger in order to make a close up or macro shot. Extension tube makes the AF slower and reduces the light it really serves no purpose for this kind of shot

[Krishna Prasad kotti]

Thank you for the Information Arash