Oh the pain... the horrible horrible pain...

[Brandon Holden]

- Full frame image...


My visit to Everglades N.P. was incredible. I could easily have spent the whole trip there! The naturalist in me was as happy as a kid on Christmas - everything down there is different from home! Amphibians, Reptiles (saw 2 Crocodiles!), Butterflies, Dragonflies, plants etc etc etc.. I spent my first morning at Anhinga Trail, photographing the various waterbirds, and then I traveled south towards Flamingo.

During my drive towards Flamingo, I saw them... Swallow-tailed Kites! And not just one, but several. I had seen them in other places while in Florida, but not like this! I had to get photos and spent virtually all the time I had left in the park trying to photograph them (1.5 days).. Late during the first afternoon I had an incredible experience, and yet I missed "the shot" !!!!!!! (see above image)

In the late afternoon light, a Kite appeared virtually right over-head, suddenly gave me a full-topside view as it started a high-speed dive... Dove down to about 30 ft in front of me, did a barrel-roll through a hole in some branches, grabbed a small frog while upside-down, and proceeded to eat it on the wing... WOW... 30 ft away!!! Most of the dive was too close for me and my 600mm+1.4xTC that I was using (I never expected it to happen so close!) and yet, I knew I had seen that topside kite for a spit second as I madly tried to follow the dive... As I reviewed my images, I had several underside images, some with the frog, some side-angled topside images, and yet my heart sunk as I saw the full-topside image was horribly out of focus... Even worse, the VERY NEXT FRAME was tack sharp, and yet I cut the whole tail off... Despite those other images, that I would have never expected to get, I still felt very sad!

After a few days I didn't feel that bad anymore, and was still very happy to have even witnessed it! At one point, I had 9 Swallow-tailed Kites in the air at the same time! Having never seen one before my Florida trip, it was a really incredible experience... And at the same time, I guess if we got all the photos we wanted - right away - we wouldn't be motivated to go out and shoot as much as we do!

Below is one of my favourite Kite images that is actually in focus :wink: It's full frame, with no cropping or adding canvas.. I have a feeling that most would want to see more room on the right (and possibly below).. But it started to grow on me as-is.. I found that with more space on the right, you tend to view the bird as a whole... With the framing the way it is, you're more drawn to the birds features, the long wing spread, the tail, the soft plumage and detail on the head! I'd be interested to hear what you think though :D

Happy Shooting!

Brandon



1DM2n, 600mm + 1.4xTC... 1/2000, F 5.6, ISO 500... Full Frame

[Kim Rollins]

I enjoyed your presentation of the story and the image. You almost seemed excited. :D

You captured the bird very well and the image is beautiful Brandon.


Did you see if there was any little detail in dark under-wing you could pull out?

[Arthur Morris]

Great story. Anyone who gives a **** about bird photography has been there... AS for the first one, operator error. For the 2nd, I would like the room at the back added to the front. Empty space behind the bird does nothing. I do love the great sharpness and the deep blue sky.

[Ramon M. Casares]

I have enjoyed the story a lot, that 2nd image is great, a little comp work and it will look great! Despite the harsh light you managed to get good underwing detail and good exposure. Congratulations!