American Kestrel Portrait

[David Salem]

This female Kestrel has been letting me get closer and closer to her over the last few months, so I thought a portrait of her might be nice.

A funny note is that I can almost set my watch to her hunting schedule every evening. She shows up at 2:00pm, hunts for insects like crazy for an hour and a half, and then is gone at 3:30pm sharp.
Arash Hazeghi came down to shoot raptors with me over the holiday weekend and got to shoot her on multiple perches at full frame distances.
That evening she stayed extra long for Arash, she was gone at 3:34pm :)

1DMkIV---700mm---f8---ss1/2500---ISO640---HH from truck@3:15pm---45% crop

Thanks as always for looking and for your input. I appreciate it.

David

[Satish Ranadive]

Superb portrait, David. Beautiful colors, nice details, backdrop and composition.

Regards,
Satish.

[Arthur Morris]

Wonderfully done. Love the sharpness, the feather detail (especially on the face), and the BKGR. When I saw the thumbnail I thought "Captive." Great that you were able to get so close. Was this from the car?

[David Salem]

Thanks Satish and Arthur for the comments.

Yes Arthur, this is shot from my truck window.

[David Salem]

Oh, and Arash was sitting in the back seat behind me so we could both shoot from the same side of the car.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi David, ...... 2pm ..... thats just after lunch, not evening. Isnt it great that your subject becomes familiar with you, you get to shoot plenty of different comps. Love the colours and detail on her head, and overall, nice and sharp. Killer BG too. Im sure you got plenty keepers, and no doubt they wont be the last.

[David Salem]

Hey Stuart, thanks for the comment. Yes, 2pm to 3:30 sounds a bit early but the sun is down at this time of the year at 4:20. Daylight savings time and the lower path of the winter sun makes for nice lighting at about 3-3:30, about an hour before sunset.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Satish and Arthur for the comments.

Yes Arthur, this is shot from my truck window.

Thanks. You must have a good truck!

[Henry Domke]

Stunning picture.
To my eyes the sharpening seems a tad overdone; sort of crunchy. Especially around the eye.

[arash_hazeghi]

great pose and details David, love the light,

sharpness looks good to me

[Arthur Morris]

Stunning picture. To my eyes the sharpening seems a tad overdone; sort of crunchy. Especially around the eye.

The face and eye look fine to me too, just very sharp and well-processed....

[gail bisson]

What a wonderful subject to have studied well and now you are reaping the rewards.
My only suggestion to improve this lovely portrait ( and I usually never do this- ask Daniel as I usually tell him I don't care for eye doctor work!)) would be to darken the pupil slightly,
Gail

[David Salem]

Thanks everyone for the comments.

Thanks Arash and Artie for confirming that my sharpening looks ok. Sometimes you can scratch your head at night looking at an image deciding if its sharp enough.

Gail, thanks for the tip. I didnt do much to this image but I did lighten the eye a little. Should have darkened the pupil after that. Thanks

[dankearl]

Agree with all the Kudo's David,
Superb field craft to get a species like this comfortable enough to get a photo like this.
Remarkable...

[MohsenVahedipour]

Excellent portrait with lovely light & BG. Very well done. TFS

[christopher galeski]

Great portrait,sharp,plenty of detail,nice BG.well done.

[Grace Scalzo]

Pretty darn sweet! You are making the most of this wonderful spot.

[Karl Egressy]

Superb portrait shot, David.

[David Salem]

Thanks everyone for the comments. I appreciate it.