Red Kite

[John Harper]

Hi There
Created today on a rare sunny day in the UK of a wild Red Kite, he was flying over the Hawk Conservancy Trust where i was spending my usual Saturday of trying to get shots of Birds in flight. He flew over to see if he could join in flying with some juvenile black kites that were being flown at the 3.30pm display.

John

EOS1DMKIII
EF 500mm F4L
ISO 1250
1/2000 @ F4

http://www.portviewfitout.co.uk/red-kite2.jpg

[Lana Hays]

John
Oh.....holy excrement.....what a shot. The raptor gods have looked upon you with favor!!!

[Jim Poor]

Beautiful! I would only rotate it 90 degrees ccw.

[Gayle Clement]

Very beautiful wingspread and wonderful detail. I'm not sure but is it possible you used noise reduction on the hawk also? The body looks a little flat.

[John Harper]

Beautiful! I would only rotate it 90 degrees ccw.

Hi Jim

Thanks for looking is this the sort of thing you mean?

John

http://www.portviewfitout.co.uk/red-kite2%2090.jpg

[Todd Frost]

John,
The original was fantastic, but I love Jims suggestion. Simply fantastic!
Todd

[Dan O'Leary]

Fantastic. I love the eye contact and light. I always look forward to the results of your weekend fun!

[Arthur Morris]

I like the VERT better. It is spectacular. All that practice with the rehab birds paid off; this is one sensational image. Did you do some SH/H on the head? IAC, this is one wonderful image.

later and love, artie

[Patrick Jeudy]

Wow awsome !! the original is much better in my opinion. Great capture.

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

I like the first one,great flight shot!

[Jay Tan]

Very impactful image! I love it!

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great pose and details. I definitely prefer the vertical as the light looks wrong in the horizontal crop.

[Jim Poor]

Hi Jim

Thanks for looking is this the sort of thing you mean?

John




That's exactly what I meant. For some reason, my mind and my eyeballs stopped communicating when I looked at the vertical and I couldn't tell what I was looking at without turning my head sideways.

[paul leverington]

The vertical is the format to go with. This shot--for a bird in a clear sky--really holds interest wonderfully. You just keep looking at it and it just keeps upending our balance. Very compelling to keep going back for another look--therefore very powerful composition. Turning it horizontal totally robs this shot of that power. Horizontal format shots should be thought of more as someone laying down say--very relaxed and content--good for a lot of lanscapes. Vertical formats are akin to a pole balanced on end ready to fall--very unstable--dynamic--full of tension. Generally something to keep in mind as a compositional principle to augment the power of certain shots--such as this gem..

Paul