American Kestrel with prey

[Isaac Grant]

Photographed this American Kestrel as it was hunting over a field. Here it has just captured a grasshopper. From a couple weeks ago in Brooklyn, New York at Floyd Bennett Field.

Canon 7d ii with Canon 500 f4 ii. Hand held. F5, SS 1/3200, ISO 640.

Converted in DPP 4. Auto White Balance. In PS I cropped about 30%, sharpened and applied noise reduction to background. The bird is a bit smaller in the frame that I usually take but I liked the way it was hunting over the field.

[Doug Brown]

Like the fanned tail feathers, nice eye contact and sharpness. It's a plus that the grasshopper is so visible. I might go with a tighter crop and eliminate the light areas at the top of the frame. I would also lighten the dark area in front of the bird.

[Isaac Grant]

Thanks for the feedback Doug. I went back and forth with the light area above. It was just the tree line and the edge of the tops of the trees. For the dark area do you mean the line going across the frame or the darker tree? I think this is what you mean. Thoughts?

[Mike Hitchen]

That second one is spot on for me. A beautiful shot.

[Mike Poole]

Unusual pose, but it shows us plenty of under wing detail. Gorgeous light, and the RP is a nice improvement.

Mike

[Jim Crosswell]

Excellent image Isaac! I like the details, grasshopper, feather patterns and composition in the repost is an improvement. Would love to have this in my files.

[keith mitchell]

The light and the bg really do lift this image.lovely little Falcon stands out very nicely,nearly missed the prey item,lovely work.

Keith.

[arash_hazeghi]

very nice Frame Issac, I'd crop it really tight to show the details of the kestrel and her prey better. lovely light and BG! well done

[Isaac Grant]

Thanks Arash. How much would you feel comfortable cropping a shot with the 7d2. I typically never go more than say 30% as I feel there is just too much loss in image quality. Perhaps with better processing I could change that? Here is a much bigger crop. Thoughts or suggestions on how to improve IQ when doing large crops?

[Robert Kimbrell]

Beautiful image Isaac. The third image works the best for. The image quality looks good to me with the tighter crop, and I like the closer view of the prey.

[David Salem]

Looks like the IQ held up pretty well for the larger crop. I can tell you why it it did. Because the light angle was perfect, and when it is bright and lined up right, you get sharper images that can handle a surprising amount of cropping. Look at the catch light in the eye, dead center! Exactly where you want it to be!
Beautiful colors, HA and BG and I like the good look at the cricket with the tighter crop. I would love to have this one in my portfolio

[gail bisson]

This is great Isaac. I love the light and the great BG.
I understand completely your reluctance to crop more than 30%. That is my rule as well.
With this image the tighter crop is the way to go. Granted you could not make a huge print but you could get a lovely 11x14. For web presentation, a big crop of a tack sharp and properly exposed image is never really an issue.
I have never gotten to within 100 yards of a kestrel.They are so skittish here and not often seen.
Anyway, enough typing!
Well done,
Gail

[Isaac Grant]

Thanks Gail. Funny but a bit long story. My wife signed my 2 boys (7 and 10) and I up to run a 5k race. I hate running but thought it would be good for all of us to do it as a family so I reluctantly agreed. While running I saw this kestrel on a sign at the edge of a field. Tons of people were passing by within 150 feet or so and it did not fly. My kestrel experience is the same as yours and they never and I mean never allow close approach. With some encouragement I got my 10 year old to finish without stopping and very near to the finish line was the kestrel that was so busy feeding on these grasshoppers or what ever they are that it really paid the people no mind. It was still mid day and light was too strong, but I got back there about 2 hours before sundown and she was still there and actively hunting. Allowed me to get way closer than I have ever been to them. I'm sure I could have even gone closer but did not want to scare bird or give her a reason to fly somewhere else. So I stayed at a respectful distance with the hope that she would go catch one and return to the perch. That is how I got this picture. Previously I posted another shot of her where she flew right towards me and it is practically too big in the frame and shot is full frame. Anyway we all finished and I got my first usable Kestrel shots as well.

[arash_hazeghi]

The last repost is the best and shows the details nicely.

The amount of cropping that is acceptable depends on two things :

1) quality of the original RAW, a file that is tack sharp and clean can be cropped much more than a file that's not quite sharp or too noisy.

2) the intended output, do you want to make large prints or present online ? for online presentation you can crop much tighter since the image is typically only 1200 pixel wide.

[Joe Subolefsky]

The last repost rocks awesome capture.