Hovering American Kestrel

Canon 1D4
500mm + 1.4x
Handheld, leaning out the car door:Whoa!:

ISO 800
1/2000 sec
f/5.6

Took this a couple days ago locally. I have been working on kestrels, find them very tough. But they are so delicately beautiful and I love to watch them. Was happy to get one not too far off from my car, hunting and not too bothered by this strange human with a huge lens. I liked the eye contact, and the blood on the beak. Wish wings were in a more interesting position, though I guess this pose really gives the sense of hovering. Also wish sky was more interesting. Would paint clouds in but not sure if I'm ready to resort to that...

This is about a 50% crop. Did a bit of leveling, reverse S curve as this was in pretty harsh light, and some recovery of whites and shadows. Saturated sky a little bit. Sharpening, NR.

Thanks much for looking. I very much appreciate all comments and critiques.

Melissa;

Nice colors, good head turn, nice lighting under the wings.

The IQ has suffered a bit from the crop.

If you want to try alternative crops, a bit off the top will accentuate the sense of hovering IMO.

Good luck with these little guys

Randy

Nice job HH that heavy rig. I would sharpen it more if it were mine, and that maybe what Randy is commenting on. Do you have Viveza? I love what you can do with the structure slider in the NIK plug in.
Agree with the colors being really nice.

Love that flight pose. Unfortunately, am not seeing too much details probably due to the large crop.

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, I did worry about that, Marina and Randy, the IQ suffering due to crop. So hard to get closer to these buggers.
Here's a repost with Randy's comp suggestion, and Stan's suggestion on eking out some more detals via Viveza. Also sharpened a bit more...

I just joined this group and this is the first photo I have taken a look at. I have been photographing birds for years and I know how tough it is to get a bird in flight. This is a beautiful photo and if I took it I would be proud to show it or display it anywhere. Very nicely done. And yes, Kestrels are very nervous Falcons. They don't like big things pointing at them.

Tom

The repost is much better. Lovely bird. Well done.

Nice eye contact and wing position. These guys are sooo skittish.
Your OP looks like luminance NR has been run on the bird. Is that the case?

The repost is head and shoulders above the OP. All good except for the harsh light. I like the hovering pose very much,
Gail

Pose and eye contact are so awesome. Love these little guys too. Your repost is a major improvement and made the image a keeper for me.

Big improvement on the re-post. Now it is one sweet image. Great color. Love the wings.

nice pose Melissa,
it's somewhat soft, it seems to me though that either the focus was soft or perhaps you ran too much NR as a 50% crop 1D4 (8 mpixel) should look great if the RAW is sharp.

Repost looks much better Melissa! I like the hovering pose, colours and HA.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by arash_hazeghi

nice pose Melissa,
it's somewhat soft, it seems to me though that either the focus was soft or perhaps you ran too much NR as a 50% crop 1D4 (8 mpixel) should look great if the RAW is sharp.

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Arash said it all. :)

Thank you all for the valuable feedback. Arash, I do think the focus was off, which I guess is not really surprising, considering how contorted I was trying to get this shot!

A little soft on the breast but none the less an excellent flight shot, Melissa. Love the head turn and the howering position.

Melissa, your repost is a lot better, IMO.

These birds are not easy and are small even for a 500mm +1.4TC, so I believe you did great here.

I don't get to see these little guys very often, 2-3 times in my life. They are fascinating and a treat to see.
I think both images are intriguing, the re-post is the better photograph.

I've seen images that were converted to a painting look. The OP already has the kind of a feel so it might be interesting to take it all the way. Then you could paint some clouds in too.

Thanks Karl, Doug and Juan. Doug, I like your suggestion and will give it a try!