Bateleur (juv)

[John Deakin]

Taken recently in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, South Africa using:-

Nikon D3
Nikkor 500 VR + 1.4x extender
F/5.6
Matrix
ISO 640
1/1600
Aperture priority
hand held

approx 15% crop for composition, minor PP work. Your comments are very much appreciated.

John

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Very nice light, underwing details and eye contact. There is a dust spot above the bird's right wing.

[Stephen Earle]

Very nicely exposed John. I can almost hear this juvie gliding past.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Wonderful flight pose and beautiful lighting . The detail is excellent and I very much like the slight head turn and eye contact. I would love to have this in my files. Thanks for sharing John.

[Arthur Morris]

Hey John, This is quite spectacular; the feathers of the underwings look so, so soft. A crop from the bottom might be in order. Had the bird been directly overhead and square to the back of the camera, I likely would have fainted when the image opened on my screen. Still, quite loverly!

[Linda Robbins]

This is a beautiful image. Love the lighting and detail of the plumage. Wondeerful capture.

[Brutus Ostling]

One of my favourite birds, even though the older ones are even more beautiful. I would have preferred to have this shot on my computer.:D I have been down to AFrica twice, but I have no flight shots of the B. Congratulations!

[John Deakin]

Thanks so much to you all for your lovely comments, they really appreciated.

Arthur, I will try your suggested composition, thanks.

Axel, you have sharp eyes :) , I missed that one, the Kgalagadi is a dusty place and I thought I had done well not to get any spots :( :)

Stephen, KTP, unlike Kruger, more often than not, provides the solitude for that silence to be really loud, I hear where you are coming from :)

John

[Juan Aragonés]

Excelent result of this beautiful eagle. Considering that you did just minor PP adjustments I have to say that the D3 did its job extremely well on this image, the exposure is very good. Did you add some exposure compensation here or you used the matrix metering suggested by the camera? Hope to see more images from that trip John

[John Deakin]

Thanks very much Juan, + 1/3rd EV used,

John