Kestrel in Flight (c)

[Raymond Barlow]

D300 / 300 2.8 ( borrowed from my good friend Jerry Peltier)
1/6400, f2.8, iso 250
hand held, slight crop, natural light

Taken at a recent workshop out near Simcoe, Ontario, Canada.
We sure had a lot of fun shooting on Sunday.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hey Raymond, from all these images of your workshop lately it sure does look like you guys had fun! Very dynamic image, I love the downstroke and open bill. Great BG too. On the repost I did two small tweaks...reduced the contrast by 5 points (I thought it was a bit strong - very subjective of course), and can you spot the second tweak?

[arash_hazeghi]

Excellent Ray, sharp shot of this speedy little flyer with open beak, can't ask for more.

[Raymond Barlow]

Hey Raymond, from all these images of your workshop lately it sure does look like you guys had fun! Very dynamic image, I love the downstroke and open bill. Great BG too. On the repost I did two small tweaks...reduced the contrast by 5 points (I thought it was a bit strong - very subjective of course), and can you spot the second tweak?

Thanks Daniel, I do see the obvious, your edit looks a little flat imo, maybe somewhere between the two edits for contrast? Though I do like the slightly high contrast in the original a lot., and yes, for sure it is subjective. It also may have to do with me using a so-so laptop for my editing.

I think I see your second adjustment ... the eye looks like it has seen a dodge??, good idea., it is something I usually do not mess around with., but I do like what you have done a lot. (Took me about 15 scrolls with the mouse!!)

Thanks bud, your one of the top editors in here, and I do appreciate your input.

[Harshad Barve]

Fantastic shot , lovely wing pose and open beak , I refer Daniel's version here
TFS

[Daniel Cadieux]

You're welcome Ray. I did not touch the eye - perhaps that was a result of my contrast reduction. My other tweak was removal of the shadow on the lower mandible. Very subtle, yes, but it caught my eye immediately when first viewing your image (especially how it connected with the dark wing edge)

Man, I keep staring at that open bill and penetrating eye...very cool!!

[Jim Crosswell]

Great flight image Ray! I like your high contast edit and Daniels for the shadow removal. The shadow lines up with the far wing line and looks better removed IMO. I hope one day to get an image of this quality.

[Malcolm Benn]

Beautiful flight shot Ray .. lol I never would have seen that shadow in a 100 years.

[Danny J Brown]

Fantastic shot Ray - caught it in mid scream. Nice.

[Raymond Barlow]

You're welcome Ray. I did not touch the eye - perhaps that was a result of my contrast reduction. My other tweak was removal of the shadow on the lower mandible. Very subtle, yes, but it caught my eye immediately when first viewing your image (especially how it connected with the dark wing edge)

Man, I keep staring at that open bill and penetrating eye...very cool!!

ahhh!! I see it now.. well done .. and thanks for your interest in this shot... too bad it is not a wild bird., but I do feel more confident after all these workshops, and hope to do something when I get out there with a wild kestrel soon.

[Raymond Barlow]

Beautiful flight shot Ray .. lol I never would have seen that shadow in a 100 years.

Thanks bud,.. Daniel reduced to overall contrast of the image, and looking at it again, this shadow adjustment under the wing would be more noticeable had this been all that was done to the original image., a touch more contrast to Daniels edit, and we are good I think.

[Stu Bowie]

Captive or not, you still had to get the shot. I like the angle, wing postion, and overall nice and sharp. Good to see the open beak. Great work.

[Clement Francis]

You got a Gem here

[Rohan Kamath]

I would never have seen that shadow in this lifetime... took me 5 scrolls just to realize where it was... :P

Loved the punch in the pose here...the open beak adds so much...

-Cheers,
Rohan
__________________________________________________
Conservation begins at HOME... We CAN make a difference...

[Danny Laredo]

Simply outstanding Ray. Love the wing position and BG. Excellent flight pose and the open bill puts this way over the top.

[denise ippolito]

Beautiful flight pose. I love the BG colors. Open mouth is a great bonus.

[Attila Seprenyi]

Great sharp flight shot perfect BG and i like the pose too.

[Suzanne Huot]

a most impressive catch in pixels ,one of the best I have seen of this species in flight ,not an easy thing to do

[Nancy A Elwood]

Raymond I am so jealous!! I cannot get these guys even standing still:p. Well done! One thing I have learned, from Fabs, is if you have Niksoftware's filter set, the reflector filter is great used selectively to lighten up the under wings. The effect is very natureal looking.

[Nagesh Mula]

Hi Raymond, nice image and good action shot here. As you pointed out yourself an image with contrast in between the original and the re edited version would work great. Congrats!!

[Mike Lentz]

Oh thats just a screaming beauty! Very nice hometeam!

[Bonnie Block]

Beautiful flight image, Ray. The open mouth is a big plus. Very sharp and excellent details.

[Rod Warnock]

Great image, Raymond !! I like the initial post but certainly Daniel's removal of the mandible shadow is a masterly touch. Very constructive session.
Best regards
Rod