Black-shouldered Kite hovering over me.

Last winter (June) I photographed a pair of these raptors building their nest alongside a busy western Sydney highway perhaps much to the amusement of the hundreds of passing motorists. At the time, the wind was blowing from behind me and as the Kites hopped off the nest to continue collecting sticks etc. They hovered almost directly above me. As these guys tend to, they were with the sun behind them. Buggers. Overexposed by one stop and had it been today I would have gone Manual Mode and at least +2 even. Never mind, I figured that fill flash will help. Still a little underexposed, but ran the converted 16-bit tiff through Neat Image, then another pass of Noise Ninja in CS3. A little shadows/highlights adjustment recovered some whites under those gorgeous wings.

Any comment or critique are always appreciated. :)

30D, 300mm f/4L IS USM + 1.4x, ISO800, f/5.6, 1/2000th, 430EX at +1 with beamer, full frame, handheld.

Akos:

A great bird, and I like your back story.

Excellent pose, you did well with your work on the exposure. The back light gave you beautiful transillumination of primaries. Sharp, great eye contact.

I have mixed feelings about the catchlights. Usually I am a fan of them, but in this case they scream out fill flash to me. I find the feet a bit too bright also. These are both personal taste issues, but I might remove the catchlights and burn the feet a bit, to see if it looks less obviously flashed.

Such a great bird, worth all your work.

Thanks for sharing.

Randy

Hi Akos: You have a stunning photograph/bird here. The underpinnings of this bird are perfectly lit. My only issue is with the catchlight, especially in bird's left eye, which appears to have a reddish cast to it. Once this issue is addressed, I feel you have a winner. Your patience paid off.

Akos, Agree with previous comments and would like to add that I think this is a fantastic image!

Hi Akos, I love the pose, the use of flash was a great call, detail and colors are nice too, I would be tempted to town down the sky a bit, you shouls have detail there, or of not, I would blow it to plain white :)
Congratulations on a great image of a great subject!

Terrific wingspread with great light and use of flash. Eye contact takes this one over the top, big congratulations!
Ilike the soft hue of the sky.

Well done Akos!

Wonderful capture here Akos. The eye contact makes the imae and your use of fill flash ggave the wings the details that they needed.

Oshkosh, You are getting the hang of this bird photography stuff. This is lovely on all counts as noted above, surely one of your best. The red eyes, the yellow, feet, and the backlights. Whammo!

You nailed this one. The catchlight doesnt bother me, as with flash, it is guaranteed to be visible in the eye. Lovely wingspread, and very well exposed Akos.

You brightened this up considerably, excellent pp work. The elegance of his form and those compelling eyes make this a terrific shot.

The eyes and the feet are great anchors and the underside details are outstanding. Catchlights don't bother me personally. Great technique and beautiful image - thanks for sharing the details
George