Snail Kite (male)

[Raul Quinones]

This male kite landed close to where I was setup taking distant shots of a female. :)
I cloned out several branches including one touching the bird, also work out the background, clone out some dark spots.

1DMKII, 500mm f/4, 1.4TC, 580EX Flash, better beamer
1/160, F6.3, ISO 400, Flash compensation -3

Comments and recommendations appreciated
Raul

[Maxis Gamez]

Hi Raul,

What a lovely head turn. Love the composition and soft light

[Alfred Forns]

Nice one Raul !!! Good head turn and love seeing the backside !! Might work on the eye a bit seems darkening the pupil will make it more prominent !!!

interesting how these birds appear with a washed out appearance. I have been struggling big time with mine !! Excellent image !!!

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Beautiful capture Raul and I love the head turn and superb eye contact. !!

[Raul Quinones]

Thanks for comments.
Alfred, thanks, I have to agree... any better?

[Jody Melanson]

Nice look back. The foot appears a bit over saturated for me. I would create a Saturation Layer and go into the Red channel and pull it back a bit. Then "paint" back any red lost in the beak area in the Layer Mask...

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Nice look back pose, details and soft light. I might increase the contrast a few points.

[Raul Quinones]

Thank you for recommendations; Alfred, Jody and Axel.
I am printing this one, and wanted to get it right before print.

[Mike Lentz]

I like the pose. The contrast gave it the boost it needed. It looks like some sticks maybe were snipped near the bottom of the image, I'd clone over the ends of them.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

The repost looks better. I'm wondering if removing the catchlight would make it look more natural because of the low light.

[Raul Quinones]

I did not want to continue working the perch, because is hard to PS it and make it look natural... but, I when ahead reworked and re-cropped the pic. I almost removed the catchlight by darken it.
I remember reading somewhere to "NEVER" remove catchlight... I guess in photography all rules can be bend and stretch. Maybe I went too far darkening the catchlight.

Now I got to do it all over again on a high resolution file :) for printing.

Thanks Again
Axel /Mike

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like what you did, the effort is definitely worth it!

[Harold Davis]

nice work, raul!!! i do like it better without the catchlight. go figure. against the grain!!