Juvi

[Lance Peters]

tried to preserve the soft feeling of the young kestrel, OOF foreground parts are not ideal.

D3
Sigma F4.5 500mm @ 500mm
F4.5
1/500
0 EV

Sarpened and fairly large crop.

Commenst appreciated.

[Stephen Stephen]

Lovely bird here Lance. The overall image looks a bit light although perhaps it's time for me to re-calibrate my monitor.

A slightly better head angle would be nice but I would love to find a kestrel at what appears to be eye level. You may be able to play some more with the cropping. What this portrait format image made from a landscape original?

[Doug Brown]

Like the composition and pose Lance. Like the perch and agree with your comment about the OOF FG. I would probably sharpen a little more and boost contrast a bit.

[Beth Goffe]

I like the feel of this a lot. I don't mind the softness as it lends toward the mood of the image, which I think was your intention. I do agree that it could use a little contrast boost but, otherwise, I wouldn't change a thing.

[Arthur Morris]

I just love it when I open an image and gasp when I see it open. This one is a jaw-dropper--so soft and sweet. I simply made a mask of the whole thing, chose Multiply as the Blending Mode, and reduced the opacity to 20%. All in all, stunning.

[Lance Peters]

Wow - thanks for the kind words Artie - I have been studying hard :)

[Arthur Morris]

YAW. I should have mentioned that the perch is perfect, the COMP lovely, and the look-back over the shoulder puts it over the top.

[Gus Cobos]

Hey Lance,
This is excellent. Congratulations my friend. I know for a fact that you have been practicing every single day. and it payed off. I'm very proud of you...:):D now that you hit level ten; its going to be even harder to maintain. I have all the confidence in you. so back to the drawing board and push your envelope even more...JUST DO IT...:cool: You have all my help and support...
Gus Cobos...:cool:

[Vincent Grafhorst]

Very nice, the repost does make it look even better.