Kestrel With Lunch

[Nathan Nitzky]

Kestrel snacking on a tasty dragonfly near Tempe Town Lake, Tempe AZ
Nikon D300s, 500mm f/4G AFS w/ TC14e Teleconverter, 1/2000 f/5.6, ISO 200

http://nnitzky.smugmug.com/Animals/Birds/Kestrel-with-lunchNN30873/1072501852_5KHPp-L.jpg

[Daniel Cadieux]

Good subject and catch. Nice blue BG too. Image looks dark overall - I guess you were trying to negate the harsh light? Not an ideal perch, I do realize these guys tend to hang out in urban areas. Even with bright mid-day sunlight fill-flash can be usuful to help with shadows such as under the bill and below the tail. How much of a crop?

[Nathan Nitzky]

Good subject and catch. Nice blue BG too. Image looks dark overall - I guess you were trying to negate the harsh light? Not an ideal perch, I do realize these guys tend to hang out in urban areas. Even with bright mid-day sunlight fill-flash can be usuful to help with shadows such as under the bill and below the tail. How much of a crop?

Thanks, Daniel. I seem to get a lot of comments that my images look dark. I wonder if it's personal preference or monitor calibration. I am working on a mac and I wonder if most of the comments are from PC users with different gamma settings. Your thoughts??? I would have put on the flash but this was such a quick grab when I first arrived at the area. I wanted to get the shot before he flew off and didn't have time to get completely set up. Crop is significant; this is approximately 25% of the full frame. Tried to slowly work my way closer but he flew.

[Janet Heintz]

Nathan, I too work on a MAC. I sometimes wondered the same thing. That would be an interesting survey sometime as to how many of our forum participants use Mac & PC.
I love your image. I have been trying for many years to capture an image of this bird. I like his little foot warped around the bug. As for the perch, oh well, sometimes they don't land in the best spots. But overall a nice crisp image.

Janet

[Ben_Sadd]

Nothing much to add to the comments above, other than that I am also on a mac and the image still looks dark.

[Andrew Merwin]

Thanks, Daniel. I seem to get a lot of comments that my images look dark. I wonder if it's personal preference or monitor calibration. I am working on a mac and I wonder if most of the comments are from PC users with different gamma settings.


I also use a Mac. Although I have experienced your experience about Macs having lighter images, I also think Daniel's observation that it appears dark is correct as the image does appear dark on my Mac monitor.
I like the image. I think kestrels are very hard to get close to for an effective photo. I think you have done well here.

[Nathan Nitzky]

Thanks all for your input and constructive criticism. I think for me it is just personal preference. Maybe living in the desert southwest with nearly constant harsh, directional lighting for 30+ years has tweaked my view of how things look in the rest of the world where you actually get a reasonable amount of filtered light. I will try to make a conscious effort to adjust for what most viewers seem to prefer.

-Nathan

[Daniel Cadieux]

Nathan, the easiest way to calibrate you monitor for brightness would be to use the calibration strip at the bottom of every page here on BPN. Be sure that every box is a different shade from black to white...make sure you don't get the first two or three darker boxes at left all looking the same black:cool: