Red Kite

[Martin Currie]

This shot was taken at Gigrin Wales, mu first attempt at flight photography using the Canon 7D Mk 2 and canon 400mm F5.6L

I'm keen to hear peoples views on this shot.


Martin

[shane shacaluga]

Hi Martin,

Nice first flight shot, well focussed and good position of the bird

Do you have the camera settings used? The bird looks good but shot looks a bit grainy so its possible you cropped this image a bit too much?

the bird is tight in the frame so you could loosen it a bit and would make the grain less apparent

The image has a yellow cast to it as well

I did a bit of a quick fix to the case using the mid grey dropper tool in a levels layers in CS5

Smoothened the background using a Surface Blur layer and selectively sharpened the subject a bit more. The head needed a bit more oomph

Hope you dont mind

PD you can upload images up to 1200 pixels wide.

[Martin Currie]

Hello Shane

That edit looks great, The day I took the shot it was dull and drizzly in mid Wales.

Camera settings as follows:
400mm
F5.6
ISO 1600
1/1250

When i look at the original image in LR its a bit different from the one uploaded, much sharper.
I'll check my export settings.

Thanks for your time

Martin

[shane shacaluga]

no problem

Can you post the original frame as it came out from the camera as well?

[Martin Currie]

Here's the original image shane

[shane shacaluga]

The colours on this look a lot more natural than the frame you posted at the top

You can loosen the crop a bit more than the first post and the image will still look very good.

Keep at it, its awesome for a first attempt ;)

[Martin Currie]

Thanks Shane.

Yesterday i received the Canon 500mm F4 IS Mk2. Its incredibly sharp!!!!

Thanks for the help much appreciated mate!!

Marty

[shane shacaluga]

Wow you have no excuses now!!

Go get them ;)

[Warren Spreng]

Great BIF shot! I'm still trying to get one I'm really happy with!

[Diane Miller]

Wonderful flight shot!! I agree on a somewhat looser crop.

An image will always come into LR a little low in contrast, to preserve shadow and highlight details. I'd go halfway in between your original colors and Shane's, but I love warm images and that might be too far for accuracy in this case. Have a look at the histogram in LR and see if you can go a little left with the Black slider. I'd remove the white object on the ground right up front in LR with the Spot Removal tool.

Would love to see a repost!

[Martin Currie]

Hello Guys

first or all Diane thanks for the post yesterday and the advice, It was very kind of you to offer some pointers along with Shane. Once again a very big thanks.

This afternoon I spent a little time following the advice given here on the forum, and have produced this image. I'd love to hear your comments on this image.
I feel its a big improvement on the first image I posted.

Cheers

Martin

[Diane Miller]

Much better!! Have a look at the histogram and see if the black end could be pushed a bit darker, with Curves or Levels, but that's a judgement call. The histogram is a better indicator than a monitor.

[shane shacaluga]

Agree this is a much improved frame

Colour is warm but not over the top and bird has breathing room with enough details

Good work!

[Stuart Philpott]

Hi Martin,kites are tough,you have done really well here. I find then incredibly difficult to photograph in dull light Martin: the colours are so vibrant in the sun the bird so dark on a cloudy day. I really like your last edit but feel your colours are possibly truer to life in the one before that even though my pref is your last edit. It's a bit of a conundrum sometimes for me when i prefer an image a little warmer that what it probably should have been in the wild.

My preference is also for the smaller crops he needs space. Wow what a great start Martin all credit

take care

Stu

[Martin Currie]

Stu

Thank you for your kinds words. Its been a daunting start but the positive comments here are greatly appreciated.

when photographing the kites at Gigrin in Wales it was a real challenge, however the 7D Mkii handled the auto focus without any difficulty.

thanks again

!artin