The background is grassland, same spot as the kestral that I posted a couple days ago. I qm'd out a vertical bright piece of grass on the left hand side, a few pieces of the tree's branch below his perch, and removed some dust spots. Slight levels adj, eye dr work, crop and sharpening, that's it. Needless to say I was delighted when he perched here after watching him in very busy settings for over an hour and a half.
1/1000, f11, iso800
Canon 1Dmk4, 500 f4 + 2.0 tc + car and blubb
Your patience was well rewarded Grace. A really nice alert pose, lovely perch and bg. I especially like the bit of wind blown grass in the perch. Good for you.
Very pleasant BG, interesting perch, nice angle in frame.
In a perfect world, would prefer the tail not be blocked, and that the top branches didn't exit the frame. That is beyond your control of course, but I find it tends to lead my eye out of the frame.
I might consider a version with 1/4 stop less exposure, seems a bit bright, just personal taste really.
Thank you Dave and Randy. Just looking at this on my work monitor and found your replies. Randy, all your wishes did come true in a vertical presentation that I shot and will share with you tomorrow.
Hi Grace, super sharp, and you have captured a great pose looking out into space. Love the detail of the perch, together with the colour of the BG. I know you like to discuss various comps so I would like to put my suggestion forward. If this were mine, I would take half off the top, and add the same to the bottom. I just feel in this, the little guy is perched a touch too low in the frame. OK, maybe Ive had a long day at work.