A walk in the nearby Onkaparinga Estuary Reserve produced a pair of these lovely raptors, found hunting mice over the grasslands. The sun managed to peek out from behind the clouds for a while, but mid afternoon light made exposure difficult, but managed to sneak up to within 20 to 30 feet of the pair while they dissected their mouse dinner in a dead tree. Managed several decent shots over a 1/2 hour period before they headed off to distant fields.
Canon 7D + 500 f4 + 1.4 x TC....700mm, f7.1, 1/800, ISO 200, +0.3EV, pattern metering, hand held at close range.......minimal editing with slight selective sharpen and noise removal, no crop
Deliberately used low ISO to reduce incidence of noise in bright conditions, as my 7D generally seems to do
Hi Phil, looks like he's looking at his next meal with this pose. I like the plumage detail on the chest area, and good to see whats left of the prey. Our BSK's have bright red eyes, so maybe its just the light that shows his eyes as slightly orange. Comp wise, I would move the BSK over to the right a touch more - a touch too centered as is.
yes a bit off the right would improve an allready sweet image. Not easy to get close to this bird. Angle is a bit steep , but well worth keeping. The beautiful blue sky sets it off very well.
Another vote for moving the bird to the right.
i like the bit of green next to the prey.
You must have been so excited to get so close to this bird.
Whites look good.
I wonder if a bit of fill flash would have helped here?
Gail
Nicely done to get so close and the mouse is a nice bonus. Well exposed and thanks for the tip on the 7D. Angle is a bit steep but the price was well worth getting nice and close.
Taa for looking, the orange eye is natural color, not red, maybe that also depends on the angle of light hitting the eye, but orange was the color of the day. Hard not to get a bit of a steep angle, never seen one perch at eye level.
Hi Phil - another vote for moving it right. You handled the tough light well and the exp looks good. Good details on the chest. Nice that you could get so close.
You did well with the angle and light. The orange/red could be from the Canon which rarely gets any reds right. I looked at a bunch of pictures and most did look slightly darker than this eye. Agree on moving the bird a tad to the right. Well exposed and you must have been stoked to capture him with his prey!!!
Black-shouldered Kite lunch
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