American Kestrel in flight

[Isaac Grant]

I spent a few hours watching this Kestrel hunt grasshoppers in tall grass. It kept flying back to the same perch which was an ugly sign. The problem was that the sun was at my back and the grass was away from me so when it took off to hunt it kept flying away. Shortly before the sun set the bird flew right towards me, circled over my head and then flew off towards what I would assume to be where it spends the evening. Was not really set up for it flying towards me as I would have had a higher f stop for that so don't have as much of the bird in sharp focus as I would like. I did not add any saturation but considered taking some away as the image was very warm from the strong and direct setting sunlight.

Canon 7dii and Canon 500 f4 ii. ISO 640, SS 1/6400, F5

Converted in DPP 4. Auto White Balance. In PS I added a bit of canvas to the left and took some off the right as the birds wing was very close to the edge of the frame. Did the same to the top and added some to the bottom. Adjusted for contrast, highlights and shadows, sharpened and applied noise reduction. Eyework.

Edit: I deleted old pic and posted again to try and get rid of the line that Gail pointed out. Worked this time. Very strange.

[gail bisson]

I would be thrilled to have this in my portfolio!
I have yet to get a single shot of a kestrel.
I agree a bit more DOF would have been great but not an image killer.
I see a little brown line right on the edge of LHS. Would get rid of that.
The colors look spot on to me and I am glad you did not desaturate the colors. I would (in LR) decrease the luminance of the blue slider which will restore some of the blues in the sky.
Well done,
Gail

[Isaac Grant]

Thanks Gail. I was very happy as well. It was funny how things turned out cause the bird spent most of its time foraging in front of an area of dark trees and stayed very low as it was just hunting grass hoppers. I needed all the shutter speed I could get which is why I was at f5 and ISO 640. As I mentioned it also kept flying away from me so I was farther away and the lower f stop was not having such a big impact. Became a problem because of the changing background and would have been the perfect time to shoot in manual. When the bird flew towards me it went slightly above the distant tree line and also in a gap in the trees which brought the shutter speed so high. Turned out nice but certainly could have been better if I had a higher fstop. I have also had very little luck with kestrels as they often fly when I am a mile away. This bird was fine with me being there as I approached it slowly over almost 2 hours. I have many more distant shots of this one but none that I liked more than this. I also got a decent take off shot as well that I many post.

No clue what the line is. This is the 2nd time I have had this issue on one of my shots that I posted. Just checked my file and it is not there. Will post again to see if it goes away. Thanks for pointing it out.

[Geoff Newhouse]

Very nice Isaac. Great wing position, sharp on the head where it counts and great light hitting the bird.

TFS
Geoff

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent incoming flight shot. Isaak.
Very nice wing stretch and HA.

Regards,
Satish.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Isaac, great getting this fast flyer in the frame, and I like the angled flight pose. Good sharp detail on the head where it counts, and I do like the colours of the Kestrel against the sky.

[Bill Nuttall]

Lovely image Issac

I just see a little too much red/orange in there, but I have never seen an American K, (and probably never will) ....... so maybe it is natural or the light on the day

[Eric Dienesch]

Lovely image Issac

I just see a little too much red/orange in there, but I have never seen an American K, (and probably never will) ....... so maybe it is natural or the light on the day

i agree with bill.. and a little bit too much contrast perhaps.

[Isaac Grant]

I hardly apply any contrast to my images and added no saturation at all. The red/orange cast is from the warm evening sunlight. I mentioned it in my post and that I decided to leave it in because it was an accurate reflection of the situation. I always go back and forth on this issue. I make an effort to go out in that perfect golden light but then the images are often a bit over saturated or red/orange. So it does not make too much sense to me to shoot in perfect golden light and then to tone down the bird so that it does not look like it is shot in that light. I often don't agree with myself on this issue but thanks for the feedback.

[David Salem]

Nice looking frame Issac. Not easy to get these guys, actually this gal, in action so well done on that front. The head is nice and sharp and I like the pose and wing position.
I totally agree about the nice warm evening light. I shoot many subjects in the evening and Love what the light dose to the subject. There is a point where it gets to be a bit to much warm color, usually just a few minutes before sundown, but all the way until then, I am trying to get a subject in that golden light. I rarely change that color temperature. Well done