Gabar Goshawk

[Chris van Rooyen]

I captured this image of a juvenile Gabar Goshawk in my favourite raptor photographic destination, the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. These guys hang around the waterholes, hoping to take a unsuspecting small bird by surprise. They're not often successful, but they do offer some great photo opportunities while chasing the birds around:)

Camera Model: Canon EOS-1D Mark II
Date/Time: 2007:04:11 08:32:38
Shutter speed: 1/3200 sec
Aperture: 7.1
Exposure mode: Av
Flash: Off
Metering mode: Multi-segment
ISO: 400
Lens: 500mm
Focal length: 500mm

[Gary Dumer]

Stunning Image Chris with your usual outstanding IQ, This bird looks much like a bird in the USA called a Female Northern Harrier.

No nits here

[Maxis Gamez]

Oh man.... this is fantastic. The colors, details and BG as simply amazing. Excellent work.

[Fernando Cerra]

Perfect ! Lovely !

[Del Cockroft]

An incredible image!

[Stephen Stephen]

Nice image here Chris. I particularly like the flared tail and BG colour.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Excellent wing position, details and BG colors. I only wish for a better head/wing separation. Do you have a frame you made before this one?

[Dave Phillips]

quite nice, almost too perfect.
Sweet color harmony

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

Great flight shot,big congrats Chris!

[Gyorgy Szimuly]

This is almost untrue :D
Outstanding image sharpness, DOF, composition.
Very well done.
Szimi

[DanWalters]

Great shot! Really like the colors.

[Glenn Bartley]

This is a stunner! Really excellent work. I love the BG and that intense eye.

[Caroline Darmo]

This is excellent. Great lighting, pose & background, a stunning image.

[Sid Garige]

Excellent. Great deatils, complementing background and wondeful subject.

[John Cooper]

A beautiful capture Chris! Great exposure, detail and composition. Well done!!

[Vincent Grafhorst]

Chris, your images continue to inspire...

[Chris van Rooyen]

Thanks for the comments guys:-) Axel, unfortunately I do not have one with a better wing position:-(

[Nikolay Staykov - shotlandetsa]

breathtaking image !!!

[peter delaney]

Hi Chris

....it is a truly wonderful image makes me long for the KTP......I have no idea how much PS you have done on this..... from a learning perspective I wud be really interesated to know if this was 5 min job. ..or if you had to spend a lot of time on it...and any tips on your techniques wud be more than welcome....

looking forward to more inspiring images...:)

[Chris van Rooyen]

HI Peter, thanks for the comments

Very little PS, the background is the red dune sands of the Kalahari. I was very close, so almost no cropping needed. Ran a noise filter on the background, otherwise the standard workflow I showed you in Kruger Park.