Male Pallid Harrier Circus macrourus

[Dr.Pranay Rao Juvvadi]

Canon 1D Mark III with Sigma 500 4.5

EXIF: 1/1600, f/6.3, Evaluative Metering, Aperture Priority, ISO 400, EC -2/3

Couldn't do much about the twig in front of the harrier's thigh and tarsi.

[Daniel Cadieux]

This is a very beautiful raptor, and its pale plumage pops nicely agaisnt the dark golden BG. I would have prefered either 1) more of a head turn to also see the far eye, or 2) less of a head turn to hide the shadowed eye socket. The one visible eye is quite stunning. I suppose with some TLC with the patch/clone tools and QMs you could be able to clean out that twig, but still not too bad as is.

[Matt Vosniak]

Now this is one impressive looking bird. The soft gray tones throughout give almost a ghost like appearance. I love that bg color as well.

[David Fletcher]

Great shot Doc... May I call u that? Wonderful. Leave the twig. part of the pic . Why do we need to remove every element that is part of the whole? Cool shot and everything gels well, but there are halo's on the twig and legs of all things. No big issues. Polished shot bhai, and would love to have...... (kid u not).

[Phil Ertel]

I don't mind the twigs that much. In my opinion the background is complimentary to bird. The image is nice and sharp with good exposure. I agree with Daniel on the head angle but, is pleasing as presented. Thanks for sharing.

[James Salywoda]

Stunning Shot! This Harrier really pops off the screen with that beautiful bg the composition could not be better.
Well Done!

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Sharpness, BG and exposure control look very good. If it were mine I might remove the shadow of the beak. Could you have moved to your right in order not to have the twigs in the foreground?

[Rohan Kamath]

again not an easy bird to shoot compared to the other harriers in India... i think its excellently done... perfect exposure and BG... I personally don't think anything should be cloned here as it gives a more natural appearance rather than a studio shoot...
:D

[Mital Patel]

one of the finest image i think of the species from india i've seen doc.

few points i have notice which can easily be rectify.

1. feathers having loss of details may be Noise Reduction made that.
2. BG having some patches display due to compression
3. giving space on right instead left would be my opinion

if you can send me original un-edited image i would love to try my hands on for pp for my personal learning.

[Stu Bowie]

Brilliant IQ. I like the pose, and sharp detail you have captured. The harrier certainly pops from the BG, and if anything, I would remove the small twig on the left of the perch at the bottom. Great image.

[Harshad Barve]

You have a great shot of this beauty , loved , HA, BG and awesome IQ
TFS

[Kiran Poonacha]

Beautiful image Dr., sure in my wishlist for the winter. all issues covered above, loved the pose and BG. congrats...

[Erich Stevens]

Warm light and BG are great. The eye is simply stunning. It's a fantastic image with or without the twig. Well done!

[Dr.Pranay Rao Juvvadi]

Thank you all for looking and commenting, appreciate it.



Great shot Doc... May I call u that?


No problem David.


If it were mine I might remove the shadow of the beak. Could you have moved to your right in order not to have the twigs in the foreground?

I do not clone, so would prefer to leave it as is, but thank you for pointing it out as I would not even have thought about the shadow. This was the only angle I could shoot from.



few points i have notice which can easily be rectify.

1. feathers having loss of details may be Noise Reduction made that.
2. BG having some patches display due to compression
3. giving space on right instead left would be my opinion

if you can send me original un-edited image i would love to try my hands on for pp for my personal learning. <!-- / message -->


Yes, the loss of feather detail is due to NR; I have applied it to the whole image. I will send you the original.