Juvenile Black shoulderd Kite

[Paul Burdett]

Hi all,
I went back to my usual haunt where the Black shouldered Kites are, but they were not on the tree, so I headed further up the path and snapped a few other birds. I then decided to head back to the area where the Kites congregate, turned around to a different tree and spotted what I though was a "lifer"...it turned out to be a juvenile Black shouldered Kite. This is the first time I've seen a juvenile...so I guess it counts as a lifer. PP in ACR and then Photoshop: cloned out lots of branches/twigs etc from above the bird, cropped, nr mainly to the background and 50/50 NIK recipe at 25% (thanks to Artie for the recipe). Canon 100-400 at 400mm, 1/1600th sec, f5.6, ISO640, manual. It was quite windy but image stabilization mode 1 helped.

[John Mack]

It's a good thing you went back. The light is nice and i like the composition. The bird does look a little soft on the eye.

[Paul Burdett]

Hi John,
Thank you for the feedback. It was quite windy making hand-held shots difficult even with the image stabilization on. I have other more sharp photos, but chose this one to post due to the HA.

[Glenn Pure]

I've not seen a young one of these either, Paul, so thanks for posting it. The light looks fairly strong but well handled here as the tones and colours look nice. Yes, it is a touch soft but I wouldn't expect that at 1/1600 sec and image stabilisation (which will not deal with subject movement anyway, only camera movement). Are you sharpening your shots after downsizing for posting? If not, that will help considerably.

[Paul Burdett]

Hi Glenn,
Thanks for the feedback. I took quite a few shots of this bird...some are sharper than this one, even with the windy conditions on the day but I like the pose here. After my editing I downsize for posting, using image>image size (in Photoshop) applying the sharpening option for downsizing and then exporting as a jpg. I also check the focus point to make sure it is over the eye after taking the shot. I don't use a tripod for my bird shots, but I did find it difficult to hand-hold on this particular day due to the windy conditions. I also took some shots at f6.3 for more dof...haven't edited them yet. Cheers.