The Arrival - American Kestrel

[Jay Ing]

Thought to catch some evening golden hour light vs the morning light out at the Kestrel site. Like its effects and will try and go back tomorrow or Thursday.Was very windy today so the approaches were all over the place and drifting. Tried to catch this feeding arrival shot dozens of times before but always missed the key frame. Feel like I got it at last. Happy with this one though I feel it could be a tad sharper :(.

A1+600GM, Tripod and Gimbal.
1600,1/4000, F8

One tail corner repair and bkg cloning edits.

[Randy Stout]

Jay:

Dynamic pose, like the bug, extended talons, colors.

Plane of focus just missed the head, tail sig. sharper.

Seems like a great spot, good excuse to return for sure!!

Randy

[Daniel Cadieux]

This image is much more impactful than the previous one you posted. It just needs more sharpening (as you mention yourself) for web presentation, but love the pose, light, BG. I agree with Randy - a great excuse to go back (again, again, and again....)

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Jay,

Love the dynamic pose and the light. Yes to slightly front focused ... Any idea what type of bug? Was the bird returning to a nest?

with love, artie

[Kurt Bowman]

Agree with others about the focus, ut the pose is awesome and the bug is a bonus! Nice work!

[Jay Ing]

Here is a slight mod... a bit of color mod and sharpening. Maybe helps.

Artie, yes the AK was returning to a box to feed. It's a well raised box which allows for swooping approaches. With the gusty winds that were having most exciting arrivals. He's got a Jerusalem cricket. Later I'll be posting another shot with on "in hand".

Thanks for comments.

Hi Jay,

Love the dynamic pose and the light. Yes to slightly front focused ... Any idea what type of bug? Was the bird returning to a nest?

with love, artie

[dankearl]

Repost is sharper but you just did not get exact focus on bug and face... Spectacular pose and worth working on, I would also smooth out BG.

[Steve Kaluski]

Lovely pose Jay, but I would look to getting more separation between subject and background, the overall colours just merge. I would also reduce the contrast in the BKG, adding a slight 'sootiness', then add some NR.

Jay the RP is just to illustrate my points, not definitive colour.

TFS
Steve

[Jay Ing]

Lovely pose Jay, but I would look to getting more separation between subject and background, the overall colours just merge. I would also reduce the contrast in the BKG, adding a slight 'sootiness', then add some NR.

Jay the RP is just to illustrate my points, not definitive colour.

TFS
Steve

Hey Steve, thanks for the RP. Looks very good to me. I'll have to keep that approach in mind when I have a similar situation come up. Cheers.

[arash_hazeghi]

focus looks like on the head for me but the processing is a bit lacking, send me the RAW I will see if I can process it

killer frame by all counts

[Dorian Anderson]

The pose and bug are great, but I think you're gonna need to process the **** out of this to get it to where people here want it to be. I'm not, for example, smoothing out an entirely patchy background. That seems
a bit disingenuous to me. I'd rather just go back an get a legit clean shot. There's no much you can do about the shadows on the subject. I'd let this frame go. You're gonna get much better stuff with that rig moving forward.

[arash_hazeghi]

I got the TIFF from Joel and worked on it

the focus was on the head but the image has a small amount of motion blur in it (evident on the talons) so it's not as crisp as it could be , nevertheless some careful sharpening did this...also took out the reddish cast.

[Jay Ing]

The pose and bug are great, but I think you're gonna need to process the **** out of this to get it to where people here want it to be. I'm not, for example, smoothing out an entirely patchy background. That seems
a bit disingenuous to me. I'd rather just go back an get a legit clean shot. There's no much you can do about the shadows on the subject. I'd let this frame go. You're gonna get much better stuff with that rig moving forward.

Well, I'm not trying to get my photos where others want them to be, but how I'd like them to be and I quite enjoy and feel comfortable with such edits. Others RP and efforts towards that end are most welcome. There is probably as much variance on what members feels is a good amount to edit this or any image as there are members here. It's a personal thing, but generally speaking I don't think it makes something less legit or the person work disingenuous. It just means they want and enjoy a greater variety of experiences in their photography experience than someone else. But I hope you're right about better stuff headed my way... I'll gladly take it. :)

[Jay Ing]

Thanks, Arash - but - where did you put my sig? :) BTW, tomorrow is perhaps the last day to shoot at this spot as we have clouds on headed our way for several day and they might all be gone by then. I plan to shoot tomorrow from 6:00. If you'd like to join let me know and we can meet up. LMK.

[arash_hazeghi]

Thanks, Arash - but - where did you put my sig? :) BTW, tomorrow is perhaps the last day to shoot at this spot as we have clouds on headed our way for several day and they might all be gone by then. I plan to shoot tomorrow from 6:00. If you'd like to join let me know and we can meet up. LMK.

thanks buddy will msg you!

[Steve Kaluski]

Hey Steve, thanks for the RP. Looks very good to me. I'll have to keep that approach in mind when I have a similar situation come up. Cheers.

You are most welcome Jay, just trying to build on the potential of the capture.

I'm not, for example, smoothing out an entirely patchy background. That seems a bit disingenuous to me. I'd rather just go back an get a legit clean shot.

Sorry Dorian I have to disagree.

Without being there we have to base our crits on the image provided, plus without a step by step breakdown of the PP process that was applied, again we have to make assumptions for our feedback. In Arash's RP the 'sootiness' has gone, likewise he too has got the separation I was referring too which the image needed to emphasis more of the subject. Therefore, perhaps the 'sootiness' seemed from the original edit? I don't know what raw converter Jay uses, but anyone who uses LR will have excess Contrast added in behind the scenes, fact, unless this is addressed.

Cheers
Steve

[John Mack]

Love that flaired out tail. Nice pose. The prey is another bonus.