african harrier hawk

[Marietjie Oosthuizen]

I cut the tips of the wing off this one, and fixed it with spare parts of another image.

Camera: Canon EOS-1D Mk IIN
Lens: EF 500mm f/4 IS USM & 1.4x converter
Shutter speed: 1/2000 sec
Aperture: f/7.1
Exposure mode: Tv
Exposure comp: +2/3
ISO 500

[Sid Garige]

Marietjie,

Never seen these guys before.

Not a big fan of OOF weed in the lower right corner. I would go for a tighter crop to eliminate them.

Other than that, Focus is right on. DOF is great and excellent exposure. Excellent eye contact too.

Very nicely done.

[Kris Mortensen]

Great shot! Nice exposure & detail. I might play with lightening the underside of the dark wing to see if it helps. The bird is a little too high & to the left in the frame for my tastes, but a great shot!!

[Joe Senzatimore]

I too find the weeds distract from an otherwise fine image. The detail is magnificent.

[Arthur Morris]

Loverly bird and I like the uptilted head. I too could do without the flowers.

Was the 4th primary on the bird's right wing actually that short? (If they are molting a feather on one side it is usually the same on the other...)

[ChasMcRae]

Nice flight shot with bright light and like others I think the plants in the corner did not add to the picture.
Another species I need to see.

[Nevil Lazarus]

Lovely picture, and nice and sharp. You did well with the fixing of the clipped wing. You may be interested to hear that I saw 2 "gymnogenes" (the name I recall them) - at the Austin Roberts sanctuary in Pretoria last year. I think the OOF flowers should be cloned out.

[Stu Bowie]

Good angle, and love the gliding posture Marietjie. Another vote to remove the OOF flowers. Good job with recovering the wing tips BTW.

[Marietjie Oosthuizen]

Thanks for the comments guys, I was wondering about the flowers... Here's without the flowers.

I might play with lightening the underside of the dark wing to see if it helps.

Kris, I have already lightened the underside of the wing quite substantially, it was almost pitch black. I think if I make it lighter much more it will become too noisy.

Was the 4th primary on the bird's right wing actually that short? (If they are molting a feather on one side it is usually the same on the other...)

Arthur, I think the feathers are like that in this bird, I fixed the wing from the very next shot, where the bird's face was in the shade.

Neville, gymnogene is the old name, it was changed a few years ago :)

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks for the info. I love the repost.

[Hendri Venter]

Nicely captured in flight Marietjie. Detail very good and partly cloudy BG adds. Repost much better.

[Kris Mortensen]

Repost looks great! Great shot becomes a really great shot!!