Falcon Training ( CAPTIVITY )

This was taken at the Spier Rehab Centre just outside Cape Town. Abandoned and injured birds are brought to this centre for rehab and looked after from injuries. This falcon was being trained for his fitness. A handler below was swinging a piece of bait around, and the falcon would climb for altitude and then dive for the bait. This would only happen a few times as it tired the falcon very quickly. After a few swings and dives, the handler slowed the swinging down for the falcon to get his catch. I captured this shot, as the falcon was turning for his dive.


Canon 50D
100-400 L IS USM @ 275mm
1/1600
F/8
ISO 400

Exp comp +0.33
Hand held

It's fun and challenging to try getting nice flight shots of falcons. I like the fanned tail and the sharpness of your image; the clouds are nice too. I would have gone for another 2/3 to a full stop of + EC, because the bird is underexposed; brightening it in PS would help too. A bit more eye contact would be nice as would a slightly better position for the upper wing. Thanks for posting!

Good job by Doug, and I agree with him 100%. Sharpness look great, and I like the cloud/sky mix in the BG. Thanks for the description of the handler's training technique, very neat.

Nice BG and pose! I also agree with Dougs assesments.

Even captive birds are a real challenge to shoot, especially these speedy raptors. Nice wng position and fanned tail, as mentioned more eye contact would have improved the image

Thanks for the description, great pose, too. Can this bird be released at some point?

Thank you all for your positive crits. I appreciate each and every one.

Axel, these guys dont really go back to the wild, as they are dependant and get to know their handler very well.

Morning Stuart,

I think you got a pretty fair capture here.

I agree that Doug's assessment was good and he said, "2/3 to a full stop of + EC, because the bird is underexposed; brightening it in PS would help too."
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I will concentrate on the PS for correction of thing critique has already brought forward. ;) I hope you have some fun with it. I look at the image and think I would only like the increase on the bird but the sky is OK.

I would do this in CS4 but I think this should work for you in CS3 too.

Load image to PS and duplicate the image, then work on the dup. image.
Duplicate layer (keyboard Ctrl+J)
With layer active Go Filters>Convert for Smart Filters
Pick up your Quick Selection Tool (it is with Magic Wand) and make a down and dirty selection of the sky. I think you can just use the QST and make a quick circle clear around the bird in the sky. That should have made a pretty good selection but may have taken some wing feather tips too but do not worry about that with this image. Selection is made so save it - Go Selection>Save Selection and name it Sky or BG or what you chose>OK.
Go Selection> Invert
Now instead of the sky you should have the bird selected (and this is with Smart Filter Layer Panel active). Save this bird selection - Selection>Save Selection>name it "Bird">OK
Now Go Image>Adjustment>Shadows and Highlights and unless you have changed default PS will by default have Shadows at 50%. Reduce that 50% with the slider to maybe 15 -18%, what makes the bird look good but it may be a bit washed out (you will fix that in another step)>OK
De-select (Ctrl+D)
Now go Layer> Adjustment Layer Levels>clip the dark side (black) about 12-14% and that should take care of some washed out issues.
Long Short Cut now (option to flattening at that time) and with top layer of Layer Panel Active use Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E and that made yet another layer that is a "duplicate of all the layers below it and what was in those layers"

Here I would personally "Save" the file (PSD) and all layer intact as a copy or renamed (I just add a W at beginning of file name when saving). With that file saved you can always go back to it and make changes later but will not have lost your hard work.

File now "saved", top layer of pallet active go Filter>USM final sharpening for size, something like 370/0.2/0. Immediately to Edit>Fade USM>Luminosity>OK
(Note that you could have loaded your saved Bird Selection before sharpening it to avoid changing the sky)
Flatten and save to .jpg and I would expect your to have this -

http://upload.pbase.com/image/111079063/original.jpg

Keep in mind that because you saved the image, the work and a layer made of all the layers before you sharpened it that if you ever wish to print it all you have to do is go back to that save PSD File, open it and sharpen it for printing. That sharpening will be different then that above you did for the "Web Viewing".

Thanks a lot Kim. Your repost looks great, and you have brought out the exposure on the falcon nicely. Sometimes Im a bit hesitant to push the Exp comp more than + third, although I have pushed it to +1 and its worked. We keep om learning. Thanks again for the tip.