Young Peregrine Falcon (c)

Attachment 81027

This young Peregrine Falcon is a wild captive bird. It is in a shelter being rehabilitated after injuring a wing in a collision with a car. It will be a few more months before it can be released. Being young, it has adapted well to captivity--and actually enjoyed our photoshoot. We were getting a photo for a poster for the 2011 fundraising campaign for the shelter. Not sure what image they will pick in the end. Shelter did not mind him on the post--as they are found on a man made post quite often.
There is some photoshop in this image, as the falcon wears a substantial pair of jesses---
Seemed funny to be taking images of a raptor with a 135/2 LOL
Canon EOS 1D Mark IV ,Canon EF 135mm f/2L USM
1/2500s f/2.2 at 135.0mm iso1000

Love the lighting, some blurry spots on the lower post.

Bonnie, a beautiful bird...your image does him justice, sharp, spot on exposure and DOF. If it were mine I would have hoped for a bit better head turn...but a keeper for sure. TFS

Lovely image. Did you request that they pose the bird on a natural perch? Love the view of the toes and the talons. The merge of the bill with the far whisker is a bit distracting.

What an opportunity, color pose and detail look great. Ove the stare.The cheek area looks like it might be a little soft compared to other areas, but that maybe just the way the feathers are. Might take just a little off the bottom

Thanks guys.
We posed him all over the place--but they really wanted some out of the woods (which in this area is what was available) The posts were the only thing we had.
Those came out the best. The one ones on the natural branch were not as nice as I could not get a good HA, the talons were not as nice, and the bg was definitely not as nice. They needed a very clean bg
for printing on. Will see what they eventually pick.
I have other images just like this one --and I'll see if I have a better HA without the whisker.
Artie--I love it that you like the talons---the jesses covered up all of the leg-there was no back talon--and big straps covered the post. We should have swung them to the back.
If they choose this image, and I do the photoshop on it, I'll do a better job on the remanufacturing the post. :D

Beautiful bird and composition, Bonnie. I love colors and details. perfect exposure.

So nice to see the Fastest on Earth. Fantastic Exposure

Thanks for the info Bonnie. Next time bring your own perch! You did a good job of removing the jesses.

Very nice. I like the ruffled feathers and the soft light really brings out some nice color.

Lovely image I get the impression the head is not quite to sharp as the wing primaries, I am surprised you went for such a wide aperture - perhaps the background was a little too intrusive?

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Originally Posted by Jonathan Ashton

Lovely image I get the impression the head is not quite to sharp as the wing primaries, I am surprised you went for such a wide aperture - perhaps the background was a little too intrusive?

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Jonathan, you are correct on the wide aperture-I had room to stop down here. BG would have been OK still. It was raining and very low light, and I was working quickly. Needed to make sure I was still checking exposure as I changed positions.

Excellent feather detail Bonnie, and I like the eye contact. We have one of these rehab centers for raptors near Cape Town.

Nice image, Bonnie. I did my first captive bird shoot this past weekend and it poses unique challenges. You did a good job removing the jesses, I would have liked more sharpness on the head and a better perch. I do like the eye contact that you have from him and the complimentary bg is nice as is the impressive feather detail on his back.

Very nice

Bonnie, Beautiful work as always. What strikes me about the image is the wonderful wing detail and that talon!