Female lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni)

[Juan Aragonés]

A female of this beautiful falcon in flight. The day was overcast but I love to photograph flights under such conditions because you have to bring your gear and your technical skills to the edge in order to have a nice result. I am trying to go manual and overcast days are great for get practice. Cropped to vertical, very, very slight levels adjustments. BG noise reduction and selective sharpening
C&C are highly apreciated


Nikon D2X AFS Nikkor 300VR f3,5 1/1250s ISO500 +0,7EV matrix metering

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Juan,
Love the position, angle and eye contact. That tail fanning out is stunning. Because of the brighter BG.........you may want to lighten the eye a bit to give more impact. I always shoot manual...welcome to thwe club! Very nicely done!

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

The tail makes the image!!!
Great pose and composition too!

[Raymond Barlow]

beautiful image Juan, excellent pose, and sweet detail under these conditions.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great pose and eye contact but the fanned tail makes it for me. The light really helped to get it well lit.

[Vincent Grafhorst]

Excellent pose Jose and that fanned tail is awesome! Personally I prefer blue sky BG's though and steer away from shooting on overcast days

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Stunning image Juan and the fanned tail is just awesome. I photographed these birds for weeks but never captured anything as lovely as this image. Thanks for sharing Juan.

[Arthur Morris]

Spectacular on all counts as noted above. Lightening the eye a bit and the face even less might work.

[Doug Brown]

Like it a lot Juan! The fanned tail is spectacular! Agree with Artie's suggestion here.