American Kestrel Taking Off - My First

[Loi Nguyen]

I was inspired by Arash Hagezhi's "Kestrel Take Off" posting a few days ago, so went out this morning to try capture a Kestrel in flight shot. The Kestrel was out hunting this morning, so I wanted to give him a bit of space. I didn't have my 1.4X on to get the fastest AF possible since he is very fast! This is close to 100% crop. I wish the image is a bit sharper and the eyes are more visible, but was happy to capture my first Kestrel in flight. Appreciate your comments. Thank you!

1DX
500f4 II
f4
1/2500
ISO 400
Manual, Handheld
Crop close to 100%

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Loi, congrats on your first take off, and as you know, its all about the timing. I like the attentive stare, but wish for a better wing position. Im sure with the 1DX, you fired off a good burst, so hopefully you have others from this sequence. There is always mixed feeling about keeping or not including the perch from a take off shot - most times, I like to keep it in the image.

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Stuart, I have other images with better ing position, but they are a bit soft and then when I regained the focus agin, the bird was a bit far off the perch. So, will need more practice. These guys are incredibly fast!

[Marina Scarr]

Congrats on getting him sharp, Loi, and good for you for setting your sights on a goal and going for it. I am seeing that you are using the 1DX. You can easily push the ISO up quite high with very little noise resulting on this camera. With my 1D4, I probably wouldn't have photographed this bird in flight anything less than ISO 800 or 1000. With the 1DX you can go even higher with excellent results. Next time you go out there for another try, so a little experimenting. I think you'll be very happy with the results.

[Jon Swanson]

I like that you caught him sharp and the good blue sky. I see quite a bit of noise from ISO 400 for this camera...and nearly ff. I would also prefer a more extended wing position.

You might want to try when the light is not quite so harsh as well as most of the bird is shadowed. Something where there s some good morning or evening light other than what looks to be mid-afternoon light. But it gives you something to shoot for!

[Loi Nguyen]

I like that you caught him sharp and the good blue sky. I see quite a bit of noise from ISO 400 for this camera...and nearly ff. I would also prefer a more extended wing position.

You might want to try when the light is not quite so harsh as well as most of the bird is shadowed. Something where there s some good morning or evening light other than what looks to be mid-afternoon light. But it gives you something to shoot for!

Jon, this image was shot at 10:20AM, so yes, the sun was a bit high in the sky already. It was cropped heavily almost to 100% , but I don't see the noise in the RAW file that you talked about. I didn't apply any NR. Perhaps I'm only looking at this image using a lap top. Will try again on a day with better light.