Common Kestrel

[Mital Patel]

Common Kestrel Female (Falco tinnunculus)
Camera : Nikon D300
Lens : Nikkor 80-400D F-4.5/5.6 ED VR
Exposure : 1/2500sec @ 370mm
Aperture : f/8
ISO Rating : 400
Captured On : Feb 15 2009, 08:52 am
Location : Bangalore, Karnataka, INDIA

C&C Welcome

[Rohan Kamath]

Mital bhai...looks like you finally got the lady of banglore too... excellent exposure, BG and light... the perch shows clear indication that it is regularly used by the bird. Glad you haven't cleaned it up... My only suggestion would be to remove the OOF twigs to the right of the bird just above the perch...

-Cheers,
Rohan
__________________________________________________
Conservation begins at HOME... We CAN make a difference...

[denise ippolito]

Mital, Really nice details and sharpness. Looks a bit cut off on the bottom. I like the OOF branches on the right. Not fond of the "poop" but-that is a personal feeling. Exposure and lighting look very nice. BG is beautiful-VWD.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the sharpness, head angle and BG. Was a slightly higher angle an option? I would lighten the iris a bit and find the white spots distracting.

[Stu Bowie]

Super pose, and I like the detail and colours. Overall sharp, and maybe just a bit tight LLC.

[Daniel Cadieux]

He he, I'm the opposite of Rohan in this case as I like the OOF twigs, but not the whitewash :-) I slightly higher angle, if the situation permitted it, would have given us better look at the talons. I like the head angle too, but I don't like how just a tiny bit of the far eye is showing...I'd prefer if it was either more visible, or not showing at all. Good looking bird!

[Marina Scarr]

You have a stunning bird here. Love the BG and the branches to the right don't bother me at all. They are part of the environment. I have to agree that although the whitewash is indicative that the birds use this spot regularly, it is quite distracting. If you have photographed this from a bit of a higher angle, you would probably have included more of the bird's feet and the whitewash would not have been a prominent in the picture. I agree with Daniel on the second eye, but would not have noticed it unless he has pointed it out. It's amazing how much our eyes can miss. No matter how much we study a picture, someone else will undoubtedly see something we don't.

[john jackson]

Common Kestrel looks different in your part of the world than in mine (our females are darker and lack the variety of markings on the upperparts).

I like this image a lot. The soiled perch and branches are fine for me. Would love to see more of the feet/claws, but the pose is generally great. The head is a nice change from perfectly side on portraits. Great stuff.

[Mital Patel]

sorry for not writing some details .. here are as follow :)

this was my first kestrel images when i visited bangalore with friend. With knoledge of my area's kestrel they are so shy and not allow to get close with minimum 50/60 feet away even though you are in car slowly approaching.

besides my location's kestrel the kestrel in bangalore are so co-operative i found as that day on the location i found almost 8 cars with long guns roaming in that area and this lovely kestrel first perch on the thorny open branch and all of sudden she flew down to ground and the friend told me that she'll perch on the termite mount everywhere in the location.

so we approached nearest mount and he told me to go on ground was very close and i just got slept on ground with dry grass waiting for the lady to perch.

Finally got lucky and as said by friend she came and perch on the mount.
But again as knowing it would be hard and with not loosing this beauty anymore i've started clicking images.

Note : This is not any explanation for the said suggestions but a story behind the kestrel in bangalore how they allow photographers to work on them.

i appreciate the suggestions said and i would surely want them in when i click them again.

thanks again for taking time to see and suggest ..

keep on suggesting friends.

[Brian Barcelos]

Mital, love the story. I agree with suggestions already said and hope you get many opportunities with these beautiful birds. You still did a good job with everything else. I don't mind the little branches but would get rid of the whitewash. Congrats

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Mital...nice sharpness. Getting such a tight crop of a small bird with a( relatively) small lens is awesome. A tad space in front will help IMO...not sqaure crop...just a little more space.

KD

[john jackson]

Thanks for the story Mital. Sounds like a wonderful moment. She must be looking down at you, and that put her in the great pose?

[Doug Brown]

Beautiful bird Mital and a great story that goes with the image. Another vote for a slightly higher shooting angle and cloning out the poop.

[Randy Stout]

Mital:

Lovely bird. You do fine work with that particular lens.
Another vote for keeping branches, losing the whitewash. I do agree with Daniel re: head angle, either more or less, but very nice as is.

Cheers

Randy

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Mital,
Can't offer much so will only add my vote on keeping the branches and slightly higher angle on your part. I do like the story behind and it is nice to see how people progress and learn as I have too!

[Mital Patel]

thank you all for your kind feedback and suggestion

here is the update clone out the poop and those oof branches..

did work on eye to make something interesting. dont know ethically it will be good or not but to try i just did...

[ramesh anantharaman]

hello mittal bhai,

awesome shot here. i am yet to get a kestrel image. and being a begginer i won't offer much. but the image looks wow.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Wonderful repost Mital, I prefer the original eye though.

A stunning species and killer BG. I also would have liked to see the talons.

[Harshad Barve]

Nice Clean repost mitalbhai
TFS

[subramanya_ck]

Fantastic Image. Like the BG

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Looks fab without the crap! :D I don't mind the head angle. These guys are way to picky. :)

[Kiran Poonacha]

good points covered above,The repost works well bhai, nice light and details.. congrats..