Black Shouldered Kite

[Lance Peters]

Taken on one of my trips to the sewrage plant.

I like the BG - It is centred - but think its not too bad.

D3
Sigma 300-800 zoom with 2 x converter @1600mm
F11
1/250th
+2.3 EV
400 ISO


Eye sharpened and ligthened just a tad.

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

Sweet image Lance - I love this! Great detail - love the feet - and the eye is wicked;)
I love the high-key feel to this as well - very well done!!
By the way I can smell the sewage from here:D:D

[Lance Peters]

Thanks Nicki - its a huge place 10,000 hectares that goes right to the ocean - I have been a bit reluctant to shoot the shorebirds at the ocean as I am not reasl keen on lying down to get that low angle considering what I am going to be laying in.... LOL

[Judd Patterson]

Lance, this is a really stunner. The vivid red eye draws me in...and the subtle background sky is a nice touch. My main suggestion is about the image composition. I feel this image works well as is, but it does feel very centered. Especially with the kite looking to the left-side of the image I probably would have tried placing the kite farther to the upper-right or lower-left. Sometimes giving the bird more room to look across an image can be very effective. Once again, well done!

[Harold Davis]

i have never seen one of these in person, but seen other images. one of my favorites!!! love the red eye!! looks great at 1600mm!!!! wow! love the perch....not sure on the crop yet.

[Lance Peters]

Hi Judd - thanks for the tips, I had considered this but wanted to keep the bird fairly large in the frame as well, Will go back to the original and see what I have to work with.

[Lance Peters]

Ok. made a bit of a adjustment - added some canvas left and bottom and recropped. (Gotta love these types of BG's for adding canvas)

Just seems to be a lot of space though.... Hmmmmm

[Alfred Forns]

Hmmmmmm I think you over did it Lance :D:)

Like the move to a side a bit but not that much room Would also like the perch to come up just above the corner (not at the corner) One sweet looking bird !!!

[James Shadle]

Maybe like this?

I like the large crop as well.

Lance,
Did you jack the reds up a bit?

Beautiful capture.

James

[Lance Peters]

Hi James - no adjustments to the reds - lightened the eye then sharpened.

Like your crop.

lance

[Oscar Zangroniz]

Great image Lance. Like the composition and head angle. Excellent repost by James.
Beautiful image and bird.

[Katie Rupp]

Lance, this is really wonderful; great bird, great exposure and that eye! James's crop puts it over the top. Nice work!!!

[Desmond Chan]

Wow, this is really GREAT, Lance !! Very good lighting, beautiful bird !! Marvelous !!!

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

Good Morning Lance - love the third repost - don't blame you for not wanting to lie in it...!!!

[Nonda Surratt]

Flat out wonderful Lance!!!! The BG suits the bird perfectly, really well done. James crop rocks!

[Gail Spitler]

Lance
Terrific, like the final crop suggested by James. You do a wonderful job of getting excellent exposures on these white or white & black birds. In fact I'm beginning to wonder if there are only white and black birds in Australia? :-)
Any suggestions about how you go about getting these spot on exposures? Love to read them.
BTW - this might be the IOTW for ETL forum.
Gail

[Lance Peters]

Hi - thanks for the kind words everyone.

Gail - Like everyone else I am my own worst critic,I am sure there are better images of the IOTW.

Happy to give any tips that I can for exposing these white birds......



TOP SECRET #1. Light Light Light - For white birds I NEVER try to photograph them in anything but SOFT LIGHT - means getting up very early inthe morning or late afternoon - Harsh light just makes it too hard. See my post in "in the begginning thread" for proof.
Soft light just makes everything much easier.

#2. I setup - take 1 or 2 shots - check my histogram - zoom in check my focus as best as I can and then make exposure compensations based on my first shots.

#3. I shoot with BOTH eyes open - I still get perphiral vision out of the other eye to be able to keep a tab on whats happening around me - other action etc. Also allows me to NOTICE changing light conditions.

#4. As the light changes - I make exposure compenstaions and check on my Histogram and make adjustments as needed. I am still a little slow at this and sometimes miss some action because of it -but getting there.

#5. I take lots and lots of shots - I have maybe 50 different shots of this bird. Lots of shots can help in so many ways, one of the images I will post soon - was missing wing tips, had lots of shots, had one with all of the wing but wrong head angle, so I can just go getthe wing tips from that shot.

#6. Practise, Practise, Practise - (Winter here now - so its dark on my way to work) I took my camera to work EVERY day and practised on the way to work every day, JUST EXPOSURE - I got some O.K shots as well, but All I really was doing was practising exposure.

Whewwwwww.... thats what I do, hope it's of some help.

:)