Young kestrel

I spent last Saturday afternoon at Elmley, trying to photograph white wagtails and little grebes in very harsh light. This young kestrel was photographed as I left the reserve, when the sun was dipping a bit. I was not sure whether I preferred the full frame, which shows some details of the fencing where it was sitting, or this cropped version. The cropped version hides more of the oof post in the foreground. In the end the cropped version won, this is about 25% of the original.

Nikon D200, 600mm Nikon, 1/1500th @f4.5, 250 iso

Haven't seen the full version but like this cropped version. Very nice detail and a nice sharp eye. Have never seen a young Kestrel up close before. You are very lucky.

Great shot, nice and sharp, I would be interested to see what the full frame looks like as I find the bottom fencing distracting.

Thanks Maggie and Liam. Here is the much wider shot I was originally thinking of posting. I may have been more tempted if the diagonal led towards the left rather than the right. As it is, I still prefer my original posting.

David

Ha ha! Just the shot PhilH and I were after on Sunday morning, we both failed, glad one of us got it! Nice work David.

Fran

I like both for different reasons. The crop is bigger than I would normally contemplate, but still looks nice and sharp around the eye although the beak is a little soft on my monitor. If selective sharpening was used on the eye , it may improve further if you tried the beak as well? I am jealous of anyone with a decent kestrel shot.
Eric

Like the second one better as the composition works well for the shot!

Greetings,

Jeroen Stel

David

An interesting post and comments its just as well we all have different opinions. I like the first cropped version but I don't have a specific reason or maybe its due to the fact that I tend to look for every detail in each species.

A cracker.

ice work David and I too prefer the second FF version as it shows off the environment a little better even at a narrow DOF. It gives it a bit more context in my opinion and is how you set up the shot so comp work better as mentioned.

Brett

I too prefer the second, the feeling of space reflects Elmley... there are a couple of youngsters there, I watched them 'playing' in the air for about an hour the other day, couldn't get any images. Hopefully they will be like one of their parents who would perch in the same spot and wasn't fazed by the general comings and goings....

Second one for me too David, I just missed out on a shot like this at the weekend, so very envious.

Andy...

It would be a dull world if we all wore brown suits I prefer the first one David but would be happy to have either shot.

Hello David.

Second one for me and I just wish I could get even this close to one of these.