American Kestrel female

Gallery: AvianPosted December 4, 2010679 views27 comments

Falco sparverius

This female Kestrel had taken off from an ugly plastic marker in a field to the right of the frame.

D200, f7.1, 1/2500, ISO 400, 200-400mm VR with 1.4x TC at 400mm, natural light, not baited or set up. This was a large crop because she was a distance away and I can see less detail in the feathers than I normally see in my images but I love her flight pose and the great eye contact. Even at 1/2500 I got some motion blur. Larger version provided.

As always, I sincerely appreciate your thoughtful comments & critiques. Thank you for looking.

Comments

27 comments

Comment posted by Dan Moore on December 4, 2010 at 7:35 PM

Well stated in your comments. Not your usual quality - detail wise- but very worthy of posting. I enjoyed it and will revisit it again.

Dan

Registered on February 11, 2010, 143 Posts, 1248 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on December 4, 2010 at 8:00 PM

How can you not like the flight position here, Mia. Just awesome. This looks outstanding at the smaller size, but does suffer in the larger version, but not that much, and def not enough to take away any of the impact. That spread tail is killer! Really nice catch.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Dudley on December 4, 2010 at 8:12 PM

My theory is that every photograph has strengths and weaknesses and in our minds we sort of add them up and then divide to come up with the overall impact an image has for us. This dramatic flight posture with this light and head turn is about as good as it gets IMO - especially with a kestrel. When I balance that out with the large crop and resulting loss of some detail I still come up with a strong image. I was there when this female flew and missed the split second of the head turn. You didn't Mia and I wish this was mine.

Registered on March 30, 2007, 437 Posts, 10915 Comments

Comment posted by Sharon Hallowell on December 4, 2010 at 8:21 PM

Really cool flight pose...I'm thinking maybe a boost of sat in the head area may help this.???

Registered on November 1, 2003, 392 Posts, 4810 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Balke on December 4, 2010 at 8:29 PM

Spectacular pose, Mia. I agree, the pose and composition here more than make up for any loss in detail. I note that there is a little bit of motion blur on the far wing. I think that it is much more likely that motion is responsible for any small loss in detail that we see here rather than the large crop. I've been so amazed by how well detail can be retained in large crops that I now normally look for other possible causes.

Registered on June 18, 2009, 229 Posts, 2915 Comments

Comment posted by Wayne Willison on December 4, 2010 at 8:31 PM

Sometimes (as has been mentioned), the techs really do not affect an image's impact. There is enough satisfying detail in this for me, because I'm in love with the three fans on perfect display here, and that headshot is icing on the cake.

Registered on April 10, 2009, 292 Posts, 3967 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Pullen on December 4, 2010 at 8:35 PM

I like the wing and tail position for sure, wish the far wing was a bit sharper but its yet a fine image.

Ron

Registered on December 18, 2005, 74 Posts, 1413 Comments

Comment posted by Jeff Loomis on December 4, 2010 at 9:16 PM

Love it. The comments so far really hit the nail on the head. You caught the single fraction of a second when the wings, head and tail were in perfect position. That makes it a captivating image to me. The detail lost due to cropping isn't enough to ruin the impact.

Registered on January 26, 2010, 68 Posts, 719 Comments

Comment posted by Tom Wilson on December 4, 2010 at 9:18 PM

Great Flight shot! I think there is plenty of detail.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 573 Posts, 2211 Comments

Comment posted by Derrick Lipinski on December 4, 2010 at 11:00 PM

The light background, wingspread and head-turn make for a fine photograph, regardless of the heavy crop. Nicely captured, Mia.

Registered on October 5, 2007, 58 Posts, 2039 Comments

Comment posted by Charles Gangas on December 4, 2010 at 11:55 PM

Mia-I like the full wing spread and the fan of the tail, the head turn and eye contact makes for a terrific capture.

Registered on August 12, 2009, 544 Posts, 2414 Comments

Comment posted by Nancy Elwood on December 5, 2010 at 12:05 AM

Mia this is really lovely! Large crop it may be, but I would certainly be pleased to have it in my files. The pose is what makes this one for sure!

Registered on January 15, 2010, 101 Posts, 396 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on December 5, 2010 at 12:32 AM

Works for me too!!! Sweet One Mia!

Ken Archer

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by Danny Laredo on December 5, 2010 at 1:58 AM

Love the flight pose you captured here Mia.

Registered on March 18, 2008, 71 Posts, 332 Comments

Comment posted by Karen Summers on December 5, 2010 at 5:15 AM

Even with the crop its a lovely image, lovely pose and colours are lovely to

Registered on December 3, 2009, 83 Posts, 818 Comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on December 5, 2010 at 7:45 AM

Love this flight pose with its full wing/tail extensions and eye contact Mia.
It has held very well even with your large crop...It's beautiful

Well done

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on December 5, 2010 at 9:22 AM

Mia,

I'll take the reduction in detail... A shot any bird photographer would dream of!

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments

Comment posted by Geoffrey Baker on December 5, 2010 at 10:33 AM

You've captured a perfect pose here Mia

I wish I had one like this in my portfolio.
Well done.

Geoff.

Registered on August 20, 2010, 192 Posts, 980 Comments

Comment posted by Monica Siri on December 5, 2010 at 1:35 PM

Mia,
I love the eye contact, the colors and the beautiful flight pose. Despite of the large crop a really nice image.

Registered on September 20, 2009, 132 Posts, 3764 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Leggett on December 5, 2010 at 3:24 PM

Love the wingspread, Mia. Nice work.

Registered on July 21, 2004, 706 Posts, 3233 Comments

Comment posted by Ian Macdermott on December 5, 2010 at 6:02 PM

All been said already Mia, wonderful shot

Registered on January 31, 2008, 15 Posts, 135 Comments

Comment posted by Angela McCain on December 6, 2010 at 1:31 AM

Really great full wing and tail spread. Nice head turn, eye contact and catch light.

Registered on April 19, 2009, 367 Posts, 3589 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on December 6, 2010 at 4:15 AM

Superb Mia - the pose is to die for

cheers
Rob

Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments

Comment posted by KC Choo on December 6, 2010 at 10:15 AM

I like every bit of this!

Registered on November 15, 2004, 519 Posts, 8278 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on December 6, 2010 at 2:56 PM

The wing span with the tail feathers spread out really make this image for me, this display really shows why birds can fly, well done.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments

Comment posted by Fabio Giarrizzo on December 11, 2010 at 5:25 PM

Beautiful pose, the position of the wings is great, and the colours of the bird are perfecly blended with background- great job on this, Fabio

Registered on December 3, 2010, 90 Posts, 1614 Comments

Comment posted by Simon Bennett on December 11, 2010 at 5:55 PM

Wonderful pose and eye contact.

Registered on February 4, 2007, 350 Posts, 4614 Comments