Kestrel.
Nikon D4
Nikon 300ml 2.8
1/400@f8
iso1250.
Shot taken from a family of Kestrels that nested in a barn in a box that I put up last year, so. more success than my Little Owl boxes but as they say you can't win them all. Not the best perch or setting but I do like the old bricks that the barn is constructed with, not many left in my part of the world.
Thanks for having a look.
Keith.
Hi Keith, great to see you are now getting images of these, how about the chicks? In an ideal world a fraction higher to be almost level would have been great, but this is probably 20ft up, maybe if the subject was looking down to you? I'll bring the 'Cherry picker' round, but it might take a few days to drive to you. Personally I might just drop the blue on the nose and level the ledge, an easy fix, trust me. If you do align the ledge then I might suggest loosing the mortar/pointing at the top and have just the bricks as the trim edge, looks cleaner to me. Could the saturation drop a fraction, WDYT? Bricks make for a different BKG and if this is where they are nesting then cool. Techs look good, nice to push the ISO a little.
Look forward to more.
TFS
Steve
It's good that you have managed to put up a box for these delightful birds...they need all the help they can get!
I think this is a juvenile otherwise the cere would be bright yellow.
I'm OK with the brickwork. As you might know I do a lot of birds in the urban environment and I have a raft of Common Kestrel images with brickwork backgrounds:)
Steve has said it all really. The blues/cyans on bill are over saturated as are the yellows in the plumage and legs. Kestrel juveniles show mainly grey or pale blue/ grey on the bill...though a blue sky might reflect some blue.
You might consider cloning out the speck on the breast near the wing. All an easy fix.
I would love to get this close to a kestrel!
I would rotate the image a bit to level out the ledge.
Great IQ and details in the feathers and I like the reflection in the eyes.
Do you have any images of the kestrel looking down at you? It would eliminate the feeling that the bird is high up on the ledge.
Gail
Thanks for your tips and comments, Gail had my hide on the top of an old oil tank which gets me almost level with the birds, but I have lots of shots from the couple of sessions that I had so I will look and see what I have. Adrian you are correct it is a juvenile bird. Doing a bit of experimenting with my camera set on vivid which could have something to do with the saturation,afraid it's my enquiring mind ,at least I now know. Thanks Steve.
Keith.
Keith if you open the original RAW you can change the setting, try this afternoon if you are not out, then you can experiment to see what works best.Doing a bit of experimenting with my camera set on vivid which could have something to do with the saturation,afraid it's my enquiring mind ,at least I now know.
Love those big eyes! I'm with Gail on the idea of leveling the board...hope you have enough space in the original to consider it. Regarding the shooting angle, perhaps backing up a few feet and showing the bird slightly smaller in the frame would have helped reduce the effect of the angle. The indirect contact does not bother me a twitch...it's still great eye contact. Really, with the nice pattern the bricks provided, I'm wondering if you tried some wider compositions with the bird showing smaller in the frame?
Will try that Steve but I have to do my decorating first, and going to try for some hares this evening.Shawn take your point I will look into your suggestion ,it is a bit of a fault of mine trying to get as close as possible to my subjects without disturbing them of course(all taken from my portable hide), will post another image from the same session later.
Thanks again Keith.
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