Protection.

[Ian McLachlan]

171831

This pair of Nankeen [or latterly 'Australian'] Kestrels are seeing off a marauding Black Shouldered Kite,.They banished there own young from last year several months ago .This is the end of the day and as it is spring down here there is plenty of action. The male is on the left, is smaller and has a grey blue head. He has been bringing the food in for about 4 weeks [So far-- geckos, mice,native mammals. scorpions, and birds], so am looking forward to the youngsters arriving pretty soon. There are two pairs within 50 yards of one another .The other pair are nesting in last year's Wedge Tailed Eagles' nest. Couldn't get the light quite behind me here and in any case the wind dictates the angle when strong which it usually is in the spring .

HH from vehicle
1DX-
600 f4 mk2 +1.4 mk3
ISO 4000
1/200OTH
F5.6
Hope you enjoy a different bird. C and C very welcome

[Daniel Cadieux]

I like the composition, perch, light, vegetation in lower left. A bit more noise than I prefer, and there is a spot to remove under the tail. Sounds like you are having fun with these guys - keep it up!

[Glenn Pure]

Magnificent kestrel shot, Ian: and two of them caught in such a nice pose in the frame. IQ and tones are excellent and the late afternoon warmth in the light is well rendered. As noted by Daniel, this does look a bit noisy in the shadowed areas of the birds and worth tidying up for such a nice frame. Composition works for me. Thanks for sharing and good to see another Aussie bird.

[John Whaley]

Beautiful light and pose. As mentioned a bit noisy, the spot under the tail feathers but overall a pleasing image.

[Ian McLachlan]

Thanks for the comments. I totally agree. I had to go to iso 4000 as the light was vaporising quickly, and i am having real trouble getting the noise out of any shaded areas without losing too much detail. Have just seen David Salem's interesting reply to his lovely Merlin about the 1DX not wanting to go over iso 2000 with that camera. Of course as well not wanting to go under1/2000th in case they fly! I am using Shadows at a high no., Smart sharpener for subject, and neat image for the outside . So short of buying a 1dx2 which Arash says will handle more iso can anyone point me in the right direction. Mind you we know there shouldn't be any shaded ares in the perfect situation.

[Glenn Pure]

I am using Shadows at a high no., Smart sharpener for subject, and neat image for the outside . So short of buying a 1dx2 which Arash says will handle more iso can anyone point me in the right direction. Mind you we know there shouldn't be any shaded ares in the perfect situation.

Ian, I'm using DPP and Photoshop Elements with Neat Image. Sorry if I missed it but are you using Adobe Camera Raw for RAW processing? If so, you may well get a lower noise result from DPP. Worth trying at least for difficult cases like this. In testing that I've done with Ian Wilson, the noise levels (with all NR switched off) are about half those from ACR for the few Canons we tested. In my hands, Neat Image is very effective at reducing noise in detail areas like your birds while still preserving the detail. Not sure how you are using it but I've built ISO specific profiles for my camera but sometimes autoprofile an image. You may be able to do that with your shot here on part of the sky. The trick is to turn the Neat Image NR down to maybe 40% or 50% and apply some sharpening inside Neat Image. While I don't have a 1DX, I think it should be OK at ISO 4000 given what I can do with my crop sensor 80D at ISO 1600 to 2000 (equivalent to at least ISO 4000 on your camera). Of course, you can turn NR up more for your background as you've done.

[Ian McLachlan]

Glenn,Im using Lightroom plus Photoshop to Smart Sharpen,and remove stuff, and Neat Image. Am working on changing to DPP as I think the colour is a bit more vibrant .Meanwhile I'll take up your suggestions with Neat Image . I enjoy your images. Many thanks again.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Lovely image, with too much noise as mentioned; did you increase exposure during conversion?
I guess in these low light situations you should be thinking of what you are trying to achieve.
I tend to not shoot for action if I know my ISO won't handle noise with the right digital exposure (pushing histogram as far right as possible without blowing highlights). Albeit I am relatively happy at ISO3200 with my ancient 1DMkIV or even the 1DMkIII occasionally. That said, if the light is low, I'll aim to get as noise free an image at as high an ISO as I can dial in and that would mean not going over my preferred ISO settings and keeping shutter speeds lower to manage the noise. This in turn means that the capturing of fast action is not really an option. Although one can still get some action shots at lower than ideal shutter speeds with sharp heads and blurred wings etc.