American Kestrel take off

[arash_hazeghi]

Female Kestrel taking off



1DX 840mm f/5.6 1/3200sec handheld hope you like it

[PhilCook]

Sweet as possible Arash, brilliant hand holding work, sharp as can be and the light on the bird is perfect as is the eye contact/HA. Liking very much the angle of the branch opposing the take off direction.........very enviable !

[Frank Schauf]

Excellent detail and flying pose, nice head turn and eye contact.

[Loi Nguyen]

Arash, super image, incredible sharp, perfect lighting, sweet BG, and a nice catch light in the eye. I know how fast these guys can be, I don't know how you have time to raise the lens and shoot at the time of take off even if you have already per focused! Loi

[shane shacaluga]

Great detail and super take off position. Really like the greys and browns on the green background. TFS

[mohammad reza shahab]

Great take off position.Excellent detail and BG.

[Bill Dix]

Yet another beauty. Great wing position, eye contact, comp. Background color is perfect compliment to the subject.

[Miguel Palaviccini]

Not much more you can ask for in a shot (well, maybe even more stretch on the wings, but that's just getting real picky).

The light here is great, and the detail that you pulled out is wonderful. Very nice dynamic pose.

Is this a recent shot? Can we look forward to more?!

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Great light and take off Arash. I wasn't aware that the inner wing was greyish blue.

[Bonnie Block]

A wonderful image, Arash. Incredible control of the light. Amazing bg too!

[vishaljadhav]

Lovely timing i would say,
all has been said about this, a amazing image indeed.

Just a question , dont know if its relevant
most of the take off shots we tend to wait for the bird, and as usual the birds never tend to read our minds . hence we tend to mount the lenses on tripods and tend to watch the birds and WAIT, here were you waiting for the bird or it was just that you noticed it was going to fly and made the image.
The reason for this question is, handholding the equipment for a few images may be a good idea but the waiting game with handheld sometimes gets to us . Would like to know your views

[arash_hazeghi]

Great light and take off Arash. I wasn't aware that the inner wing was greyish blue.

it is grey but not blue (it looks grey on my monitor)

thanks Cheryl!

[arash_hazeghi]

To answer Loi and Vishal,

Taking flight shots like this on a tripod will be very difficult, because the lens is anchored and you can not follow a kestrel once it starts to move, you have to try many times before getting a keeper.

Of course you don't have to handhold the lens for a long period and wait for the bird to fly, you can rest the lens on the ground (I rest it around my neck). By paying close attention to bird's habit you will learn there a few signs before the bird takes off. Raptors usually stretch, reposition themselves, change their grip or often poop before taking off. You need to watch the bird carefully. When you see a take off sing, you immediately raise the rig to your line of sight and shoot. It happens fast but you can train yourself to be faster with lots of practice. There are camera settings and a few other important points that I explain in my AF guide if you are interested.



hope this helps

Thanks everyone for nice comments

[Satish Ranadive]

"Classic one"

Regards,
Satish.

[Doug Brown]

Beautiful take off pose Arash. Love the light, sharpness, and BG too.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Perfectly timed for peak action. Very nice bird and head angle. Lovely bg and details. Superb.