Kestral on Pine

[Grace Scalzo]

Yesterday afternoon I was watching a backlit red tailed hawk. All of a sudden this little speedster dive bombed him then flew to the lit side and perched in a little pine. I quick masked out a bit of a green tree line on the top edge. The background is grassland that is for sale and I assume will one day be developed; a huge habitat loss for the harriers, meadowlarks, and hawks that live there.

I'll probably end up trimming a bit off the top and right side, what do you think?

1/1600, f11, iso800
Canon 1dmk4, 500f4 + 2.0 tc + blubb from car

[Randy Stout]

Grace:

Lovely colors, pleasant BG, nice wing display.

The face seems a little soft to me, not as crisp as the near wing. Was this much of a crop?

Yes to a bit off the top. Not sure where to make the cut on the right without crowding him a bit.

Cheers

Randy

[gail bisson]

Hi Grace,
I am looking at your image with my IPad so I may not be spot on with my critique! How wonderful that you got 2 different raptors on the same tree. I like the wing pose and head looks sharp to me but I am on my IPad. Love the complimentary BG and the soft colors in this image.
I would take some off the bottom as I find all the dense foliage "heavy" and drags my eye downward. I know you are not fond of square crops but I think it would look nice with this image. Sometimes " it's good to be square"!!:w3
gail

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Grace, great landing pose, and well timed to capture the swept back wing position. I like the overall colours on this fellow, and although the overall sharpness is good, the near wing does seem a little sharper than the rest of the kestral. Comp wise, a little off the top wont harm this, and I feel coming in about 2cm ( 1in ) from the right will work too.

[Dave Leroy]

Good for you Grace to be so quick to get a lovely pose of this little hawk. I really like the camera settings.
Not sure what to suggest for composition, I guess because i like this one.

[Richard Unsworth]

Bit off the top as suggested, nothing else to add to what has been said; its a top shot

[Charles Glatzer]

Grace,

Killer pic! A different crop would further enhance this fine image.
Guess sunny f/16 works :~) As does the higher shutter speed and shooting at f/11 with the 2x...you go girl.

Hugs,

Chas

[Bill Dix]

Tough little guys to capture. Well done to get him in nice light, good HA and wing position. I agree a little off top and right would help, but fine image either way.

[jack williamson]

I really like the BG color, it compliments the kestrel. Wing position is very good, excellent exposure. The head may be a little soft but this still looks very good to me.

Jack

[dankearl]

Very nice photo of this guy, I never see them land on anything but wires and fence posts where I live.
I don't mind it as is, a small crop all around maybe at most.

[Melissa Groo]

Gorgeous, Grace. Captures the intricate beauty of this bird so well. I would definitely crop some from the top and right, I want so much to see it even closer. Great job capturing this elusive bird so well.

[Karl Egressy]

Great moment captured, Grace. Fantastic shot of this good looking falcon.

[Morkel Erasmus]

lovely exposure and pose, nice setting too
I agree the face could use some more sharpening

[Grace Scalzo]

Thanks to everyone who looked at and commented on this image. Here's the story with it. FIrst off, it is an image that I have dreamed of creating for many years at this location. When I saw it in camera it looked pretty good but I was extremely disappointed with the quality of it when I pulled it into Lightroom. It is a big crop, more than 50%. I have motion blur in the head, due to a stiff wind which also caused the bird to give me that nice wing position, and also it suffers from the focal length (2x) plus a little atmospheric junk (air was dirty from wind). So all you who think the head is soft are spot on. But given all that, I had no intention of hitting the delete button so processed it and sharpened it as best as I could. (But no amount of sharpening will make this one perfect) A larger version actually looks a little better. I'll never be able to get any closer at this location, and may never get another op like this one, altho I will keep trying, but for now I plan to rework the comp (Thanks Chas and all), print it and be happy with it, flaws and all. While I never would promote accepting substandard work, I have come to learn to appreciate something that I consider beautiful and is truly the best that I can produce in a given circumstance.

[Frank Schauf]

Excellent light, details and bg.

[arash_hazeghi]

very nice light and pose, good job with that 2X

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Grace, well done in a tough situation. And terrific job on processing this. I like the comp. Best part is the raised wings...otherwise the comp. would have appeared quite unbalanced.

[Ofer Levy]

Great light, colours, BG and pose. Perch is a bit dominant IMHO but still a lovely image.