Hunting BS Kite
My friend called me Sunday afternoon to tell me that light and wind were perfect at my fave lagoon. So I drove there immediately managing to catch the last hour of warm sun.
In the original the raptor was about 50% of frame, so I upsized with Genuine Fractals and cropped tight to how I wanted it. Perhaps it could be a tad sharper still.
30D, 300mm f/4L IS USM + 1.4x, ISO400, f/8, 1/1000th, eval. mtr, +1/3,
I think it's sharp enough, Akos. I like the light and the pose of the bird !
Stunning light, and you have brought out that eye so well. This is well exposed, and love the gliding posture. Great image Akos.
Thank you guys. This Kite was hovering in about a 20-30-knot wind. They do normally hover in one spot looking for their prey but usually with their backs into the light. How typical. The bird had no choice this time, had to face the wind or not hunt at all. We were very lucky to have seen this.
I love the position, were you almost level with the bird? also did you do anything to bring out the eye so clearly or was it just natural light.
I have hundreds of in flight BS Kites but getting the eye into the sun mostly eludes me.
Yes, it was hunting probably about 10m above the field, but where we stood was on a dirt road that was going up to the top thus bringing us almost at eye level with this guy. Nothing was done extra to bring out the red. It is really that brilliant in the evening light. One of my favorite raptors.Originally Posted by Christopher C.M. Cooke
I said in the post above that mostly they hover with their backs to the sun so you are facing into the light if you want to photograph them. This time we were sort of lucky as it had to face into the howling westerly wind meaning it was front-lit, which is perfect for what we wanted.
Thanks Chris.
Love the eye contact and the red eye. Kytes are very diffcult birds because they are small and tend to fly off as soon as you get close and they don't give eye contact at all!
Nice one Akos - particularly like the posture and the eye contact.
cheers Rob
Akos, Beautiful pose and eye contact. Well done.
Pose is very nice, exposure is good, detail are preety great for the crop and light is to die for, I only wish that the bird's left wing not to be in shadows, but still, a very nice image amigo! Congratulations!
Akos, Akos...
This is a beautiful image.
Love that warm light, hanging talons and easy-going look of this great raptor.
I only wonder how the picture would benefit by having a little more light blue sky?
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