Black Shouldered Kite

[Mervyn Marsh]

Black shouldered KIte - WTP

Species
Common Name

- Black Shouldered Kite

Scientific Name

- Elanus axillaris

Date

- 21.7.19

Location

- Western Treatment Plant, Werribee, Vic, Aus

Camera Details
Brand/Model

- canon 5d mk iv

Lens

-

canon 600mm mk iii, 1.4x iii

Camera Settings
ISO

- 800

F-Stop

- 8

Shutter Speed

- 1/5000

Exposure Bias/Metering/Flash

-

Technique

- Handheld

Attraction Aides

- Nil

Post Production

-

Cropped 20%, reduced highlights and b/g noise.

Notes

- thanks for looking all feedback welcome.

[Paul Burdett]

Mervyn: A nice shot of this bird and that red eye is always a bonus. I'm lucky in that these are very prevalent around 10 minutes away from my house, and a 10 minute walk from the car park. They are always on the high branches of a large tree. I've posted similar shots on this forum and the feedback is that the shooting angle is a little steep, and I think that applies to this one. The lighting and exposure are good, as is then HA. I've been lucky in the past that I've managed to photograph them closer to eye level...especially the juveniles with their amazing colours. TFS

[gail bisson]

Nice bird and I have only ever seen them high in a tree!
Good exposure and the steepness of the shooting angle is minimized by the bird looking down.
The hint of cloud really saved this image from having that blah blue sky BG.

[Alex Becker]

Ditto the comments over. Love the pose. Detail is good and the cloud helps a ton. As Gail mentions steep angle is helped by the look down. Like the claws and the bit of blood on them adds interest. TFS

[John Mack]

Thanks for posting a bigger image. The light is sweet and i like the placement of the bird in the frame. Nice view of the feet as well.

[arash_hazeghi]

looks nice Merv, these look almost identical to our white tailed kites and are quite difficult to photograph here, they are tiny and skittish. If mine I'd simplify the perch a bit be cloning out the smaller twigs, especially the one pointing downward

TFS

[Mervyn Marsh]

looks nice Merv, these look almost identical to our white tailed kites and are quite difficult to photograph here, they are tiny and skittish. If mine I'd simplify the perch a bit be cloning out the smaller twigs, especially the one pointing downward

TFS

Hey Thanks arash, had a play with the image and agree looks cleaner with small branches cleaned up, I used clone stamp in photoshop, cheers, Merv

Black SHouldered kite -m WTP

[Ian McLachlan]

Very nice .Lovely soft sky and slightly better after Arash 's suggestion I reckon. Are there hides or are you out in the open at Werribee. Any spotted Harriers?