Red Kite in flight

[Richard Luke]

Taken on my recent holiday up to Scotland. This is my first image shared with the group, please feel free to leave comments.

Thanks, Rick

[John]

A nice bit of timing there. The focus is right on the eye, which is excellent. The only question I have is whether there is a bit too much of the image out of sharp focus. A bit more depth of field would have been good - if that meant upping the ISO then so be it IMHO.

Hope that helps, and thanks for sharing your picture!

[Richard Luke]

yes I do agree with that John, I was shooting at f11 to start with but wasn’t happy with the noise so lowered the ISO and as a result had to drop down to f6.3 at 1/1000 and ISO 200. With hindsight I could have stopped at ISO 400 and shot around f8.0 - f9.0 without too much noise but knee jerk reaction was to drop the ISO as low as I dared whilst trying to keep the shutter speed at 1/1000 or greater. Thanks for the input, it has confirmed what I suspected. Still very happy with this shot as my wildlife work is “in progress” and I do find birds in flight quiet difficult to get “magazine perfect” but I keep trying haha.

[Paul Jones]

This is my first image shared with the group, please feel free to leave comments.

Thanks for posting Rick. In a club with so many members I'm surprised we don't get more images shown on the forum.

I don't know much about photographing birds. I bet you had a lot of fun with it.

[bert haddock]

Hi Richard,
I do a lot of sport and wildlife photography, your Red Kite shot is a very good attempt at this type of photography, as you realise it's all about practice and also the right location, my shot of a Red Kite was taken down at Gigrin in Wales by, going in the top hide you are shooting down on the birds as they come to feed which enables you to get the Kite's against the grass bank which is much better than against the sky as regards metering etc, I always shoot with my lens wide open at around 400 ISO.
Regards,
Bert.

[GeoffWard]

Hello Richard,
I like your shot very much. I am trying to take decent bird pictures and to date have not had the opportunity to take many in flight. What type of lens did you use and at what focal length? Did you also focus on single point?

Regards

Geoff

[Richard Luke]

Thanks for the tips Bert, appreciate your comments

I used my Canon 5d mk3 and the 100-400mm lens for this shot. Settings where Manual, f6.3 and 1/1000 at ISO200. With hindsight I should of shot at ISO400 and F8 but I am still learning this stuff Oh I also used centre spot metering so I exposed for the bird, but had to lighten it up a couple of stops in Lightroom 4. I always shoot RAW where I can. The focal length was 400mm, its where it stays most of the time and for that reason I am looking to save up for a 400mm F2.8 prime, although I may get a 300mm f2.8 instead and use some tele convertors to get the extra length.

I am also surprised that there are not more recent posts of peoples images, I enjoy hearing what others think of my shots and listen to how they can be improved, you learn so much quicker that way than just trying to figure something out on your own I find.

[Janice Freeman]

You are quite right about the lack of use of the Images section Richard, and I for one am guilty. Suppose I have been afraid to raise my head above the parapet - however that will do no good, and as you say, all the advice is given generously and freely and from people who really know what they are doing. I think we all need a kick up the proverbial and I will now start to make use of this. I put two phots into the last critique night that we had and learned so much from that. Watch this space.

Janice