Here's a portrait of David Salem's little Kestrel friend. This female, unlike most other Kestrels that I've photographed, was not skittish in the least. She tolerated both our presence and our perches. I really like the pose, perch, and BG in this frame. The light was challenging as the sun kept moving in and out of the clouds; as a result I underexposed this frame by 3/4 stop. I was pleased with how nicely the image took to raising the exposure, especially in light of the fact that I was shooting ISO 1600.
Canon 1Dx, 600mm II, f/5.6, 1/1000, ISO 1600, manual exposure, bean bag support, car as blind
Excellent pose, perch and bg, Doug. I shoot manual 99% of the time, but for the conditions you describe (constant bg and rapidly changing light), I would've switched to Av and dialed in a +1/3 EC.
I see no noise at all! Did you do any NR?
Excellent pose, perch and bg, Doug. I shoot manual 99% of the time, but for the conditions you describe (constant bg and rapidly changing light), I would've switched to Av and dialed in a +1/3 EC.
I see no noise at all! Did you do any NR?
You have a valid point about Av vs. manual exposure. I performed NR on the BG only.
Nice lighting good eye detail, I like the pose, the background is unobtrusive - in this particular case almost too unobtrusive if you get my drift - you may of course disagree??
Very nice Doug, you did her justice in a big way. Beautiful photo. I have had many sessions with her in bright sun but that day was pretty nice with the changing light, gave the scene a nice soft look. Killer detail in this and I love the look back pose as I think its her best pose, besides flying. Most of my favorites are look backs.
A nice part for me is the good look at the pupil. You don't get that in bright sun as easy.
Glad you got a chance to shoot her before she left the area last week. She stayed for two months like clockwork. Hope to see her again.
I love this shot!
How lucky that she allowed you to get close!
The only minor thing that caught my eye was a reddish cast to the image. Perhaps the reddish wash came from surrounding countryside or the time of day. If that's the case you probably don't want to change it.
However, just for grins I took RGB color readings on the most neutral parts of the image such as the light feathers of the face. Red dominated over the green and blue channels.
I thought I'd see what it looked like if I brought the color balance to more neutral. I added cyan and bit of blue. I think it helps separate the bird more from the background. It also lets the blue feathers on the head "pop" more. What do you think?
What more can I say than I agree with everyone, especially the pose and that the soft light enabled you to catch the eye detail so well. I'm glad you guys got back there before the "birders" could take the perches down.
Doug, beautiful image. Love the look back pose that gives the colors of her back. Really sharp, great details. I prefer Henry's RP. Looking at the perch and the BG of the two versions, I see the red cast in the OP. TFS. Loi
Great stuff Doug, the look back pose, nice light, and interesting perch make the image. That everything is perfectly in the plane of focus is just icing on the cake.
Lovely bird and pose on this one, Doug. Tough lighting but no shadows and nice details. I agree about the cast, but it looks yellow to me. The feathers on the Kestrel's face should be white and yours look yellowish. I would do a slight color balance adjustment and believe Henry's RP is probably more accurate in terms of color.
I really like the composition and IQ on this, Doug. I don't know this species so I can't comment on the accuracy of the color in the feathers. But, looking at the catchlight in the eye, it appears that the sun was low on the horizon. Assuming I'm correct on that, I think the warm tones in your original post were there in the RAW file and reflect the light conditions you had. It gives a really nice feeling to the viewer as well for me.
Doug the above comments make very interesting reading to someone like myself ,I learn so much.
Anyway way to get back to your image it looks superb in every way to me, cracking bird on a super BG.
American Kestrel
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Originally Posted by Sidharth Kodikal
