Black Kite

[Gerhard Weldhagen]

This Black Kite image was created while flying a good distance away from my position on the Murray river cliffs in South Australia. Canon EOS-1D X Mark II, EF600mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4x III, 1/3200, f 5.6, ISO 1600, handheld, focus custom Case 3, active focus point on sky behind the tail at time of exposure. DPP 4 / CS6, large crop (25% of original) for composition. Not sure if this one is a keeper, your comments would be appreciated.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Focus looks good but I think the image is a little noisy, is there a slight halo round the left wing? If the image was cropped I would suggest reduce the crop and I suspect image quality would be better.

[Bill Dix]

It would be a keeper in my book. Very nice flight position, and generally good detail. Good suggestion from Jonathan -- maybe a slight reduction in crop, and perhaps a little less sharpening on the near underwing?

[Mike Poole]

I like the wings up pose and the clear BG, but the crop is showing and it looks like you've had to ramp up there sharpening to compensate. There is a sharpening halo surrounding much of the bird, so for me, whilst I wouldn't delete the file it wouldn't be a contender for a place on the wall.

Mike

[arash_hazeghi]

I like the light but the IQ is visibly lacking from the huge crop as evident in the head area on the noise on the primaries, plus the steep angle and the plain sky background makes this image less attractive.

It's not a keeper in my book. Gives you more motivation to go and try another day :)


TFS