Secretary Bird in flight (from the field)

[Morkel Erasmus]

Posting this from out in rural South Africa as I am still on our road-trip. Got a pair of them chasing snakes in Golden Gate Highlands National Park a few days ago. This one gulped down what looked like a puff adder...and then its mate took off into the updraft from the edge of a cliff. I knew this one would follow, and was ready for it.

Light could have been better (overcast) - but happy to get this as my first BIF of this species. (Got the whole takeoff series but this is the best pose for me).

Shot this using the new 2x TC-mk3 wide open...
Edited on a non-calibrated laptop monitor so I hope it shows up allright!

Techs:
Canon 7D with 300mm f2.8 L IS USM + 2.0xTC-III (600mm)
f5.6 @ 1/1250 SS @ ISO-800
Cropped slightly from RHS and top

[Munish Kaushik]

Morkel,

Loved the inflight pose, spread of the wings & the butter like bkgr. Would love to see some more light on the birds eye or a catchlight there will do wonders to this image.

Thanks for sharing.

Regards,
Munish Kaushik
www.facebook.com/Kaushik.Munish

[Bill Dix]

Hi Morkel. Beautiful flight shot - terrific wing and head position. I like the hint of grass in the bg. Levels look good to me for laptop PP, but maybe just a little bit more USM might help, and possibly a little more NR on the background. I like Munish's suggestion for a catchlight. Congrats on a great capture.

[Dudley Watson]

Morkel

A top class image...lovely detail and pose against stunning B/G VWD

[arash_hazeghi]

Excellent pose and BG, it looks a bit soft however.

[Melissa Groo]

Really a gorgeous picture, Morkel. A catchlight as others have indicated would bring this up a notch.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Fantastic pose, and I personally love this type of light. There is already a bit of reflection in the eye that can be simply enhanced, and I agree a bit more sharpening would help for web posting. Love the BG colours and streaks of grass at bottom. Perhaps just a bit more room right and bottom...

[Arthur Morris]

I like it but even working from the JPEG it could be vastly improved in post. That's why I wrote Digital Basics. Good images with less than ideal optimization seems to be the theme here tonight :)

This repost took me close to ten minutes. Let me know if anyone is interested in what I did.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks for the honest feedback folks.

The original is sharp but in hindsight I could have stopped down to f7.1 or f8.0 and bumped the ISO to 1250 or so.

Artie - would love to have a quick rundown of what you did, I confess I did not spend enough time on this as I am still on the road and working on a less-than-optimal monitor. Was just so excited to get this shot! :)

[Ignacio Yufera]

I don't see the softness in the original - both legs and head look sharp to me, and there's no blur in the wings. From my experience, bumping up the ISO in a Canon would have resulted in more noise.

Apart from the eye, I honestly don't see much of a difference in the 2nd version?

[Kiran Poonacha]

Lovely pose captured Bhai, nice to see this bird in flight...

[Morkel Erasmus]

thanks guys!