The look....

1D Mark II, Canon 500 f4, stacked x1.4 + x2 converters, 1/320, f11. iso 320, full Wimberley, hide

Black-shouldered Kite

From about a year ago here in Sydney. I was keen to get the two eyes in direct evening light so this deep red will show. Used the stacked converters instead of having to crop much. The dry blood on the beak tells the story of this successful hunter.
No selective saturation - this is the true colour of the eyes in this light.

Cropped from a horizontal, full frame vertical

Very nice portrait Ofer. Dry blood on the beak adds a nice touch of behavior. I would just run another run of NR on the BG. Love the red intense eyes, colors are accurate and this is what the kite looks like in good light. You were lucky he was looking right at you!

I have a question/suggestion, as you know stacking converters degrades sharpness a lot and you lose AF as well, you will get better sharpness with one converter only, so have you done comparisons to see whether the sharper but more tightly cropped photo looks worse or better than the softer but un-cropped photo for web presentation?

Very nice work.

It is really posing for you...! Lovely and sharp and well composed...

Just love those eyes. :)

You did what you set out to do and did it very, very well. Big congrats on a fine image/portrait of a magnificent species.

You gotta love those eyes here , Awesome stare

Quote:

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Originally Posted by arash_hazeghi

I have a question/suggestion, as you know stacking converters degrades sharpness a lot and you lose AF as well, you will get better sharpness with one converter only, so have you done comparisons to see whether the sharper but more tightly cropped photo looks worse or better than the softer but un-cropped photo for web presentation?

Very nice work.

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+ 1 here

TFS

This close-up really shows the intense red eyes. Well done!

nice stare and expo here Ofer, loved the blood on the beak..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by arash_hazeghi

Very nice portrait Ofer. Dry blood on the beak adds a nice touch of behavior. I would just run another run of NR on the BG. Love the red intense eyes, colors are accurate and this is what the kite looks like in good light. You were lucky he was looking right at you!

I have a question/suggestion, as you know stacking converters degrades sharpness a lot and you lose AF as well, you will get better sharpness with one converter only, so have you done comparisons to see whether the sharper but more tightly cropped photo looks worse or better than the softer but un-cropped photo for web presentation?

Very nice work.

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Thanks for your comments and suggestions guys!
Arash, never did this comparison between using one converter and cropping or using the stacked converters. I guess one day I will....;)

Love the in your face look, those big bright big red eyes and the blood on the beak tells story. I might run a round of NR on the background. The converters test sound very interesting.

Awesome portrait Ofer I love the intense stare.

Ofer:

Excellent image, well composed, image quality held up well despite the stacked converters.

The eyes make it, the blood on beak is a bonuse.

Randy

Great portrait Ofer - you've captured the essence of the bird really well

cheers
Rob

Wonderful detail Ofer. Excellent work to get both eyes in the sun.