Kestrel launch

[Bob Serling]

American Kestrel male taking off. I posted this yesterday to the Eager to Learn forum and the moderator suggested I post it here. I've only posted one or two photos before, so I hope I'm not violating the rules with a double posting.

Canon 1D Mark IV
Canon EF300mm f/2.8 with EF 2X teleconverter
f/5.6 1/4000 800ISO
Hand held (what the heck is a tripod anyway?)

Some cropping and minor exposure adjustment in Lightroom

I'd love any and all comments and critiques

Thanks!

Bob Serling

[Doug Brown]

Hey Bob. Good to see you posting on Avian and shooting hand held! Great launch pose with wings down and talons visible. I'd consider boosting your exposure a bit, and I'd also run some NR on the BG. The only thing that would improve the pose is a bit more eye contact.

[Marina Scarr]

Awesome take off pose and good critique by Doug. I'd sharpen the kestrel's head just a tad more.

[Bob Serling]

Thanks Doug! I'll have to dig out my LR book and take a look at applying NR. I have you and Jim Neiger to thank for teaching me to shoot BIF. When I attended the workshop two years ago, I had been shooting for about a year and I was never able to capture a bird in flight. I remember being frustrated the first morning and you helping me by encouraging me to keep practicing the techniques and having me acquire focus first on stationary objects. A very accommodating stop sign helped out. Then, by that afternoon, I actually started capturing a number of nice shots. So much thanks again to both you and Jim!

[D. Robert Franz]

Well done Bob... If the head was turned a bit to the camera it would be killer!

[keith mitchell]

Must agree with the above comments just a little head turn and it's a classic.

[Bob Serling]

I TRIED to get him to look at me, but he seemed much more interested in the large dragon fly about 30 feet out :-).

Thank you everyone for your comments. They were very helpful and now I'm going to devote more time to my weakness of post processing. I've never applied noise reduction or selective sharpening so I'm eager to dig in and learn how to do both.

One quick question - what happened to the old "thank you" button? Was that eliminated with the redesign? It seemed like a great way to acknowledge each person without always having to do a follow-up post.

[Karl Egressy]

Nice take off pose, excellent timing.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

This is a great image. Great takeoff pose nice and sharp and good light. A head turn towards the viewer would have taken it up a few notches but still a cool shot.