LANNER FALCON

[Arno Ellmer]

From my visit in March 2011 to Giant's Castle ,KwaZulu Natal.
Lanner Falcons are rare visitors to this site.A pair appeared in a flash and shortly thereafter disappeared again.
I was fortunate to capture a few frames .
Shot from a hide. The bg is the mountain backdrop.
Canon Mk IV
500 mm
f/7.1
1/3200
ISO 800
cropped on all sides.

[Morkel Erasmus]

They are also super fast. A great frame, Arno!
I would even consider a tighter crop here?

[gail bisson]

Oh, how I love the Giants' Castle BG. You have captured a very unusual incoming pose. Love the splayed tail and the way the head is looking one way but the direction he will go is to the left. I am OK with this composition but would love to see a comp with all the room to the left. Nice and sharp,
Gail

[Dave Leroy]

HA and light angle combined for a very nice shot. Not sure which way I would go with crop but it does seem just a touch tight on left.
A unique pose and good for you to be ready to get the photo.

[Don Lacy]

Wonderful pose I like the crop since the falcon is looking into the frame

[adrian dancy]

A dramatic and very pleasing flight position. However there are one or two issues with IQ. The feather detail over the bird's left leg appears slightly odd and it looks as though you have attempted to save blown highlights. It is the same with the area just above the bird's bill. The shadow areas in the bird's lower body and underwing are appearing to be a bit too light, perhaps you have attempted to reduce harshness and bring out detail. Of course I could be wrong. There is also a line running through the bird's right wing wish seems to have the same colour as the background ? The background BTW is delicious. I think by allowing minor imperfections to exist the image may be better. My apologies if my assessment is way off line.

[arash_hazeghi]

sharp and sweet dynamic pose and a nice BG. I just wish the sun was behind you but you handled the harsh light very well.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Arno, interesting pose, and it works for me. Good DOF on the falcon, and overall nice and sharp. I do like your smooth BG too.

[Dan Walker]

Great pose and BG, agree about the light angle.

Very cool bird!