American Kestrel in the big blue sky

[Lou Saporito]

I found a pair of kestrels hanging around a local livestock facility. They perch on top of a series of light posts overlooking fields. Their favorite posts are marked in white. In the evenings I park my car as close as I can to these preferred perches and wait for the birds to land on them. I took this image a couple of frames after take-off. I can tell by the look on her face that she does not like me (yet).
I think the wings could be sharper. I don't know if it is my unsteady hand holding technique or if SS was too slow. Either way I will be going back to make adjustments.

Looking for an honest critique.

canon 7d2
400mm 5.6
1/200 @f 8.0
ISO 800
Evaluative metering
HH, 6:00 pm
LR CC - 25% crop white balance adjustment, NR, sharpening

[Diane Miller]

Hi Lou, and welcome to ETL! Apologies I just now got online and saw your post needed to be moderated, as a first-time post. (Spam prevention.)

Wow -- I would love to have an opportunity like this with Kestrels! Your composition is great! But the SS is quite slow for this level of action. The tail is sharp so the wing blur is due to the SS. Look at the catchlight in the original raw at 100% to evaluate focus and motion blur. But good job of panning.

I'd try to keep SS at 1/1600 minimum, and you'll probably still get wingtip blur there. I'd open up to f/5.6 and hope for the best. You might try ISO 1600, but I sure like to stay at 800 with that camera.

Best to state the crop as a % of the full frame. Ambiguous if you mean 25% of the full frame or 75%.

Rushed for time right now but look forward to seeing more!!

[Lou Saporito]

Thanks Diane.
I was kinda wondering where my post went. I didn't realize it had to be moderated.

I would like to be clear at I shot this at 1/2000th (three zeros - i made a typo). The catch lights of this shot and the others in this sequence of shots are pretty blurry. Am I to conclude that this is technique?

25% of the pixels in the frame remain.

[Warren Spreng]

Love these birds Lou but haven't seen one in quite awhile! Since this is basically a 75% crop (since you said only 25% of the pixels remain) that is part of your blurriness since the bird is not spread out among a lot of pixels. I continue to struggle with BIF as well and I think it is partially technique and just not being close enough when the bird flies by. Great head angle, I might try a less severe crop and maybe back off on the NR just a little.

[Diane Miller]

Now that you've been approved your subsequent posts should show without issues.

1/2000 is better! Are the catchlights blurred as though not in focus, or blurred like small lines? The former is bad focus, the latter is movement. This one looks round, as best I can tell from the small JPEG. How are you focusing? You should be in AI Servo, which will follow distance changes. Using the center focus sensor with 4 surrounding points is generally the best.

At the distance of most birds, unless they are on a perch close enough to fill the frame, you're better off wide open, to gain more SS at lower ISO. Keeping the subject centered is key to good focus.

Cropping this much is asking a lot. It can work sometimes with the absolute sharpest image, but will usually result in poor image quality. Getting the most pixels on the subject is important.

And viewing at 100% (1:1) in LR is the best loupe ever. Combine that with the histogram for tonal adjustment and you have a wonderful processing lab!

Looking forward to your journey!

[Stuart Philpott]

Now that you've been approved your subsequent posts should show without issues.

1/2000 is better! Are the catchlights blurred as though not in focus, or blurred like small lines? The former is bad focus, the latter is movement. This one looks round, as best I can tell from the small JPEG. How are you focusing? You should be in AI Servo, which will follow distance changes. Using the center focus sensor with 4 surrounding points is generally the best.

At the distance of most birds, unless they are on a perch close enough to fill the frame, you're better off wide open, to gain more SS at lower ISO. Keeping the subject centered is key to good focus.

Cropping this much is asking a lot. It can work sometimes with the absolute sharpest image, but will usually result in poor image quality. Getting the most pixels on the subject is important.

And viewing at 100% (1:1) in LR is the best loupe ever. Combine that with the histogram for tonal adjustment and you have a wonderful processing lab!

Looking forward to your journey!

Diane thanks for this,very informative for me aswell.
Welcome Lou,I was shooting our UK version of the kestrel yesterday and suffered some similar problems,I think my panning was my issue. Lou it's a great start I hope things work out for you and gradually they get more acustomed to you, keep trying. I like the head angle wings and tail fanned and your composition. Plus your exposure looks quite good I struggle and am learning too Lou ,so please take this on board with my comments. All the luck Lou

take care

Stu

[Adhika Lie]

Hi Lou! Welcome to the forum! This is a really great first post. Except for the softness, I think you've got a really nice pose there! Yes the sun could've been from your left to shine on the face, but this is nature shot. The head angle is perfect. 25% of pixels remaining can be quite a crop depending on your raw quality, but I think this is due to focusing.

You know, it always amazes me what we I could learn from all the posts here. I never thought of using the white markings on the poles to find their most favorite perch! Thanks for sharing! :)

[Diane Miller]

Don't think I said above -- even at 1/2000 the softness of the wings would be due to motion blur. (The tail looks wonderful!) For a larger and slower bird it can be OK but can easily show blur for some faster movements.

There is such a small and shallow sweet spot for balancing ISO, SS and aperture.

[Lou Saporito]

Thanks everyone (Adhika, Diane and Stuart) for their positive and informative replies.

I have been going back and forth with using the center focus points or letting the auto focus select it for me (and choose the tail). It seems that I will have more control if I choose the center point surrounded by four focus points. While this presents a challenge, I believe, overtime, my skills will improve and ultimately I will achieve better results. I will continue to practice on the fast moving grackles in my yard.

[Diane Miller]

The center point with 4 surrounds will put focus on the head if you can keep it there as you follow the subject's motion. It takes practice. A lot of practice.

Using all the sensors will often choose a spot that isn't as important, and as you are often working with barely enough DOF, you could have a bad result.

In the second AF menu, check the items fir first and second (which means subsequent) image priority. Set them to focus. It's dicey enough when the camera thinks the subject is in focus.

I have wondered if accurate focus is also compromised by the focus point not being held steadily enough on the subject.