Black-eared Kite

[BillRazor]

Taken in February 2010 in Hokkaido, Japan.
Nikon D3 300 f4 with x1.4 T.C. - 1/1250 @f8

[Arthur Morris]

Welcome Bill. And TAT (thanks a ton) for your membership support. I gasped when this one opened. No flash mentioned??? SH and under-wing detail. My only wish would have been that the near wing were raised more....

[BillRazor]

Thanks Arthur. I am really honoured by your kind comments. No flash needed—plenty of snow about reflecting the light back on the underside of the wings. I may have others with better wing position. I will have a look through my library of images in the near future.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Snow really helped. It has acted as a reflector. Typically, to get so much underside detail, one has to go a little high key on the sky. Wonderfully done. Excellent sharpness too.

[Colin Driscoll]

Yes, WOW! Such clarity and eye contact. You've set the bar high for future posts :)

[Janet Heintz]

Bill, This is just beautiful. It really is tack sharp, almost looks like a drawing. Good Work!

[Robert O'Toole]

Sharp and the snow reflected light gives the underside of the wings great detail, almost looks like fill flash!

Great subject, These guys are so fun to photograph. The japanese photographers basically place them in the same class as pidgeons or doves and dont bother to shoot them, but I love em.

What ISO was this? Was the RAW capture underexposed? the sky is noisier then I would expect for a D3! The noise looks more like a D300 at ISO 800.

Robert

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Arthur. I am really honoured by your kind comments. No flash needed—plenty of snow about reflecting the light back on the underside of the wings. I may have others with better wing position. I will have a look through my library of images in the near future.

YAW. That snow worked wonders. I hope to get to Japan for the first time in the winter of 2012 with Robert O'Toole ... :)

[Hendri Venter]

Fantastic Bill. I like the flight angle, detail and bright eye.