Black kite before the storm

[Paul Randall]

This Black Kite was trying to find a meal before an impending storm moved in. Everything was right- the wind was from the west, the sun was low and my focusing was spot on. Taken at the Western Treatment Plant (sewerage) west of Melbourne. On this particular night there was about 50 Whistling and Black Kites riding the wind. A bird of prey photographers dream!! I have cropped it into a vertical from a horizontal shot. It seemed to work both ways but I prefer this crop a little better because it shows off the bird a bit closer. Not sure whether the head looks a bit too over sharpened. C + C appreciated.

Thanks for viewing, Paul Randall:cool:

Camera- Canon 5D
Lens- 400mm f5.6 L
ISO- 200
Metering Mode- Centre weighted
Exposure Mode- AV mode
Exposure Compensation- -1/3
Shutter Speed- 1/800
Aperture- 5.6
AF/MF Mode- AF Servo
Tripod- Handheld
Flash- Not used

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Sharpness is perfect IMHO. Love the sky in the BG and the lit BOP (bird of prey). It is an incredibly nice and moody image Paul. I cannot wait to visit that spot sometime in the future. I heard a lot about it. :)

Yep. this is PMP (pretty much perfect). Congrats mate! Just a quick Q. Did you crop or is this FF?

[Paul Randall]

Cropped from horizontal but it had a bit too much room in it I felt. It has not been cropped from top or bottom, just from left and right. Thanks for the quick reply, it seems we are always on here at the same time (same time zone I guess )

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Go Australia! The best place on Earth. But I AM biased. Though we don't have domesticated egrets like they do in Florida. :( Ah well...at least it's a real challenge for us! ;)

[Marc Mol]

Superb lighting, comp & sharp! VWD Paul.
From a fellow Aussie!

[Doug Brown]

Stunning raptor image! Great light, awesome banking pose, and those dark clouds are a real plus. I'd only lighten the eye a bit. Well done!

[Arthur Morris]

Loverly image, bird, crop, and pose. Though nobody has mentioned it and I admit to not having a great eye for detail, the feathers seem to be lacking fine detail....

[arash_hazeghi]

Some wicked light!!! :) Excellent colors, wing position and HA. Excellent shot.

Fine detail seems to be there but I guess something weird has happened in resizing as the edges look a bit harsh? Did you ever use linear downsampling? Worth another try.

[Aidan Briggs]

Lovely banking pose, details, and exposure. Great dramatic BG. There seems to be plenty of fine detail IMO, and this sort of hard edges could be a result of using preserve hard edges as the resizing mode.

[Bonnie Block]

Awesome image taken in fantastic light. It does not look oversharpened to me. I can see it looking much better in a larger presentation.

[Harshad Barve]

awesome image , great light and pose , nice advise above
TFS

[Ilija Dukovski]

The pose is excellent but the sky color stand out here.
Very nice

[Doug Brown]

Loverly image, bird, crop, and pose. Though nobody has mentioned it and I admit to not having a great eye for detail, the feathers seem to be lacking fine detail....

Not on my monitor Artie. Fine detail is excellent to my eye and to the OP's credit! :)

[Stu Bowie]

Full wingspread at its best, and just the overall light and colours in this. Well captured.

[Paul Randall]

Thanks for comments all. I have done no edge sharpening in this image just a bit of contrast tinkering which might account for the sharp edges (a bit of overall sharpening + face sharpening as well)

[paul leverington]

Certainly you did capture some great light on this guy. Of course what makes it is his look at us. I would wish to see some action in the BG, with some cloud lines--but it is what it was... Sweet shot Mr. Randall!

Paul

[Rob Drummond]

Wonderful shot Paul - great pose and a background and light to die for.

cheers
Rob