Taken in NT Australia about six weeks ago.
f/7.1, 1/12500, iso 500, +0.3
500mm mk ii, 1.4x iii, 5d mk iii,
Got real close to this guy, taken hand held standing through my sun roof.
Was a full frame shot, had to add landscape and recompose as there was no room then sharpen resized file. Used a touch of darken/lighten center tool from coler efex. clone stamp an unwanted branch out.
I do use the darken/lighten filter at times, but find it is easy to overdo it and make it look unnatural. Because the bird is already partly in shadow, I might be tempted to try it without the darken/lighten effect.
If you have time and don't mind, repost the file before that filter was applied, just to see where you started from.
Hi Mervyn, the light cast on the head shows up the eye very well, and we have a good view of that destructive beak. The sky looks a touch too blue, but you were there.
That was an awesome opportunity you had to get so close to a raptor. I like the composition and sharpness/details. The main issue was the harsh light and its angle that has given lots of shade on this side of the subject. It did give you a perfect head angle though and that has illuminated the face very nicely. Stopping down to get the feet and perch in focus would have been ideal. Still a nice frame, and a scene I'm sure you'll remember for a long time!
I prefer the repost without the darken/lighten filter. The colors look better, and the shadowing on the body isn't quite as pronounce.
Good points from Stuart and Daniel.
Whistling Kite (Haliastur sphenurus)
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