Black-Shouldered Kite Liftoff

[Morkel Erasmus]

I was lucky to capture this take-off recently in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, South Africa.

Techs:
Nikon D3s with Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II + 1.4x TC @ 700mm
f5.6 @ 1/2500 SS @ ISO-450
EV +1

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the take-off pose, raised tail and red eye. I might move him to the left a little bit.

[Roger Clark]

Hi Morkel,

Beautiful capture. Great exposure and sharpness. And I like the angles: your view and the sun. Nice job.

Roger

[arash_hazeghi]

cool take off and like the red eye, light was a bit harsh, wish the sun was behind you

[Frank Schauf]

A great dynamic situation, congratulations.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

These kites are so cool. I like the take off pose and bright red eye

[Arno Ellmer]

Great shot ,Morkel.Light unfortunately quite harsh.Would move image slightly more to upper left corner. I like the intense red eye contact.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks for the feedback, folks.
I would not call this harsh light, in fact EXIF shows it was taken at 8AM which is still decent light IMHO...might have just been the angle of the sun which was to my left...?

[Roger Clark]

Thanks for the feedback, folks.
I would not call this harsh light, in fact EXIF shows it was taken at 8AM which is still decent light IMHO...might have just been the angle of the sun which was to my left...?

Hi Morkel,
I agree. But the shadow on the bird's left side is a little deep. A selection of the eye area in shadow and a slight brightening would fix that nicely. For me the shading gives form to both the bird and the stick.

Rpger