Might be an obvious statement but flight shots seem to be a lot harder with the 500F4IS and the Mongoose than with the 400F5.6 handheld. Well, I am starting to get the hang of it...
It's always easier to do flight photography hand held IMO. The 500 f/4 is a huge lens compared to the 400 f/5.6 so it takes a while to get used to. With regard to the photo, I like the head angle and the detail on the bird's left wing. I'm not crazy about the position of the other wing or the strong shadow on it. I might crop a little tighter.
I agree completely with Doug - shooting handheld I find quite intuitive - it's like shooting with a shotgun in that you pivot about your axis - using a tripod you pivot around the tripod and have to move your head left and right , up and down so is a whole new skill to learn.
F4 may have blurred out your BG more - wing pose looks very stiff and light angle not ideal. I really like the extended alulae, fanned tail and feet out as airbrakes.
Shame on the shadow, the rest of the picture is very painterly and attractive. Thanks for sharing!
As for hand-holding, been there, done that. I use a tripod more often than not.
The right wing looks a bit awkward in shadow and shape, but the overall effect is quite artistic IMO. Agree with Tony on the F4 blurring the BG a bit more.
Funny, somewhere on this site, in a BIF post, I stated that handholding a (shorter) lens (if possible) is always better for flight than using a big lens on a tripod and some guy trashed me. Glad that all here agree. Love the near-wing and the belly but the far wing (as noted) and the head bug me a bit. The belly is so much better lit than the head... Nice and sharp and a good EXP.
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Arthur, thanks for taking the time to comment. I'll give it a bit more time with the 500F4IS on the tripod and see if I can figure it out for BIFs. It's just such a pleasure to handle it with the Mongoose.