Swallow-tailed Kite

[Doug Brown]

This is a tough bird to get a good photo of. They don't really get active until the sun is well above the horizon. And a little bit of sun can cook the whites. Protecting the whites often leaves the blacks a mess. For this frame I had the good fortune of having the sun hide behind a few clouds as a Kite circled overhead; this preserved my exposure on the bird and gave me a nice blue sky. Jim Neiger does a great job of locating these birds!



Canon 5D Mark III, 500mm + 1.4x, f/7.1, 1/2000, ISO 500, manual exposure, hand held

[Richard Unsworth]

Hi Doug

Wow great pose on a really hard bird.
I have seen many but only ever got a couple of fair shots; either theyre profile is wafer thin or theyve gone past !

great pose, nice sky, max kudos

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Doug, I like the diagonal wingspan across the frame, and well timed to get the open beak. Yep, you certainly nailed the exposure on both blacks and whites, and good to see a hint of clouds in the BG.

[Marina Scarr]

Great capture, Doug. These raptors are a nightmare to photograph unless you have great light or overcast skies. They sure are beauties though, and you did a great job with this one. Like the open bill.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Agree entirely with the aforesaid - this one I like!!

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

I have also tried thse guys and they are not easy to photograph at all! you have done great here by showing details on both black and whites plus the open beak adds to the image.

[arash_hazeghi]

very nice great pose + open beak!

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Doug, exposure looks very good. the tail, the wings, the open big, diagonal.....superb shot.

[Doug Brown]

Thank you all for the feedback!