Greater Kestrel

[Hendri Venter]

Captured in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park recently. My favourite smaller raptor.

Canon 1D MKIV
Canon 600mm F4 IS + 1.4 TC
ISO 400
F8
1/3200 sec
Aperture Priority

[Randy Stout]

Hendri:

A very much "in your face" image, with the tight crop and powerful pose.
The tail looks a bit sharper than the head to me.
Really nice colors in bird and nice soft clouds in BG.

The light angle with the shadows is the main detractor here. Esp. the sharp shadow on the neck.
It is really tough to get even illumination on this type of shot unless the light is very soft, very low angle,lots of fill off sand or snow (not an option for you!) or lots of fill flash.

It is a very dramatic image!

Cheers

Randy

[Stu Bowie]

Great to see you catching up on this side mate.:) I do like the close up here, together with the flying posture. Lovely fanned tail, with a good view of those sharp talons. The hint of clouds in the BG adds a nice touch. Well captured mate.

[Bill Dix]

A beautiful shot with great head angle, nice comp. The hard shadow didn't do you any favors; I don't know if the effect of that could be reduced a bit in PP. But otherwise I love the image, and the clouds in the BG really help.

[Mital Patel]

indeed a beautiful capture with nice post and light. wish you locked on the face too.

[John Wright]

Great pose and head angle. I agree with the others that the head is a little soft compared with the tail - some extra selective sharpening might work well...

[Craig Brelsford]

You battled the harsh sun to a stalemate. That line running down the neck is not optimal. But you retained the details and captured the kestrel in a lively pose.

[Jan Fourie]

Very nice image Hendri with a lovely posture,light under the wings,eye contact and great comp

[Hendri Venter]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate your comments and input.