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Wildlife Moderator
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Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator
Pretty amazing opportunity and capture, Steve.
Superb IQ, looks great for 12.800 ISO. Frame well exposed and PP seems effortless as usual. Interesting 'perch', love it 
The tiny bit of snow adds to the image. Subject is sharp and I like the feeding pose, also the clean BG which helps the subject stand out so well.
Cannot find fault with this, works for me as presented. Would absolutely love to have this in my folders!
Thank you so much for sharing,
Warmest regards,
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Wildlife Moderator
Hi Gabriela, thanks for commenting.
When I left the house in the morning, it was pitch black, hoar frost, and about 150m visibility because of thick mist/fog, then after around 12 miles the whole day changed into this early winter wonderland and perhaps the best day of this year, especially for photography.
Superb IQ, looks great for 12.800 ISO.
With the light, nailing everything the ISO was a breeze to process, plus having again just tweaked the 'Case' setting it hit the sweet spot nailing every frame in both cameras, thank God for 512GB cards!
As the day unfolded it offered more behavioural aspects, plus creating some very interesting lighting as you know.
Thanks again.
Steve
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
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Story Sequences Moderator and Wildlife Moderator
Originally Posted by
Steve Kaluski
Hi Gabriela, thanks for commenting.
When I left the house in the morning, it was pitch black, hoar frost, and about 150m visibility because of thick mist/fog, then after around 12 miles the whole day changed into this early winter wonderland and perhaps the best day of this year, especially for photography.
With the light, nailing everything the ISO was a breeze to process, plus having again just tweaked the 'Case' setting it hit the sweet spot nailing every frame in both cameras, thank God for 512GB cards!
As the day unfolded it offered more behavioural aspects, plus creating some very interesting lighting as you know.
Thanks again.
Steve
Thank you Steve, I look forward to see more images as you get to process
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Lifetime Member
What Gabriela said, lovely scene and contrasting with the 42 deg day we have just had here in Oz.
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Post a Thank You. - 1 Thanks
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Hi Steve,
I'm really enjoying this one. The frost on the fence top gives a wonderful wintry feel to the image.
The kestrel looks very nice - I also like the feeding pose - it looks good from the side.
Nicely processed - I wouldn't have expected that the image was made with ISO 12,800. Was f/9 entirely necessary or could you have opened up a little and lowered the ISO?
The difference between using a mouse as bait and using sound recordings is that this way the bird is rewarded with a meal!
Thanks for sharing,
Gerald
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Wildlife Moderator
Hi Gerald, nice to see you back and thanks for the comments.
Nicely processed - I wouldn't have expected that the image was made with ISO 12,800. Was f/9 entirely necessary or could you have opened up a little and lowered the ISO?
Firstly, with the 1.4x, the aperture defaults to f/10, plus... with increasing the EV ie +2.33, your SS drops and so you need to bump it up, one reason for Auto ISO.
The difference between using a mouse as bait and using sound recordings is that this way the bird is rewarded with a meal!
Gerald, Pass Go and collect 200 euros 
, in Winter meals are in short supply, hunting is tough for all Avian, in this way the 'photographer' gets the shots hopefully and the Kestrel(s) get food and it helps sustain them.
Yes, to a degree we are messing with Nature, however with dwindling species I think we owe it to help them in whatever way we can.
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
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An interesting perch, as far as man-made perches go. The dusting of snow definitely adds to the uniqueness.
The bright BG works nicely for me. I definitely wish the bird wasn't turned away.
Would love to hear more about your setup. Were you in a hide? How did you learn that this individual was happy to take a free meal.
Just curious, having never done setups with raptors.
TFS.
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Wildlife Moderator
Thanks Sid, it’s all on a working farm where these birds can freely predate, the wall is a dry stone wall, which is typical of the area and this style has been used for hundreds of years.
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
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Macro and Flora Moderator
Super colours and good action, super processing, it's a great image.
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Wildlife Moderator
Super colours and good action, super processing, it's a great image.
Yes, that day it all came together rather nicely IMHO, I'm sure you will be planning a trip!!!
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
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BPN Member
Hi Steve ...
a superb image of the Kestrel , with lovely colors , tones and the frost on the perch .
Processing is as good as it can be , the pose is cool and dynamic .... makes it somehow different .
Interesting that folks still comment on the used " high iso " .... we all should know that for some of us the ISO does not play a big role any longer , unless we go above 25.600 .
Regardless of the opinion about giving food or use audio , attracted is attracted IMHO .... do not think the birds need a reward . It just might help them across the winter , but when they become fed in spring and summer for the commercial success .... even when enough natural food is present they do might become addicted to that feeding . And if the feeding is stopped for some reason , they might start to struggle . Just my thoughts ... for sure I do use it myself and would also on commercial places .
In the end you created some cool frames at that place , I wish we something similar close by
TFS Andreas
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Publisher
Hey Steve,
While the image is obviously well done, and I love the frosted stone wall, and the bird is lovely, and I love the light and the background, and ISO 12800 looks great, and you have captured the peak of the action, I cannot understand why nobody above mentioned that the bird is angled about ten degrees away from the plane of the sensor. For me, that is a huge negative. Subject to film plane orientation always needs to be considered from the get-go.
Were you in a blind or in a vehicle?
What was the bait? Was it dead or alive?
Either way, I am personally fine with attracting birds into photographic range.
Anyone interested in Digital Basics can learn more here. Note -- you do not take RawDigger into the field -- you learn via post-capture study.
with love to all, artie
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Wildlife Moderator
Thank you Artie.
I cannot understand why nobody above mentioned that the bird is angled about ten degrees away from the plane of the sensor.
I think perhaps they leave the HA for you? Hopefully I can address that in a future posting Artie, however for me it hasn't quite got the 'atmosphere' this has. I knew is was slightly angled away, but felt the whole content, environment, atmosphere, time of day would envelope the slight 'turn away'.
Were you in a blind or in a vehicle?
Blind
What was the bait? Was it dead or alive?
As per my intro Artie:
Note: The subject is fully wild and completely unconstrained. Besides the potential impact of my presence, nothing has been done to intentionally alter or affect the ongoing behaviour of the subject.
The mouse is dead and bred for snakes and I cannot see any difference between this and using sound recordings.
Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.
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