Portrait of an American Kestrel

[Loi Nguyen]

This image was taken in January when an American Kestrel settled in our area for the winter. He chse a community garden as his home, so the perch isn't ideal. I thought I would have him all year, but in early March, he departed the area, so I went back looking for old images to work on. This one I liek because it shows his most beautiful top side and is in good details.

1DX
500f4 II + 1.4X III
1/2500
f5.6
ISO-800
Av Mode, 0 Bias

I should have reduced the ISO to 400 for this shot, but I was hoping to catch him tking off this the high shutter speed.

Appreciate your comments

Loi

[Clyde Hopper]

Hi Loi, I really enjoyed this shot .The head turn makes the steep angle of the shot mute- IMO .the details are really good . only nit is ,What are the white streaks coming from the birds head ? if feathers then (OK) I guess ,but i do find it drawing my eye a bit .

[Jim Thomas]

Nice. One of my favorite little raptors. Was this a large crop? Seems like there could be more feather detail/texture.

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Loi, I really enjoyed this shot .The head turn makes the steep angle of the shot mute- IMO .the details are really good . only nit is ,What are the white streaks coming from the birds head ? if feathers then (OK) I guess ,but i do find it drawing my eye a bit .

Hi Clyde, they are feathers. I thought about cloning them out, but decided to leave them as is.

[Loi Nguyen]

Nice. One of my favorite little raptors. Was this a large crop? Seems like there could be more feather detail/texture.

Hi Jim, the original shot was horizontal, so I cropped for vertical and took may be 25% of the vertical. I could do a better job with sharpening next time (still learning how to PP in PS CS6). Loi

[Kerry Perkins]

Loi, this is a beautiful portrait of one of my favorite birds, love these scrappy little raptors! Good comments above, regarding the stray feathers I would probably clone them out. I love the rich colors and exposure of this shot. Always nice to see the dorsal view. Well done.

[Jeannean Ryman]

The comments have pretty much covered anything I would add, but just wanted to say how much I like this photo. Would love to get one of these this close some day!