I am stoked! - American Kestrel- close

[dancinec]

I didn't expect it. A long the shoreline of the marsh, where a nature trail winds, a lonely kestrel was sitting within 8 feet of the trail on top of a 4 foot bush. This trail is busy with hikers, joggers and dog walkers and like myself a nature lover. The kestrel was between me and the sun (of course). I took out my trusty 100-400 lens to confirm. A Kestrel just 20 feet away; usually hard to close to, just sitting there. I carry a small portable chair, so I could get down low and shoot. I took about 15 shots and the kestrel had not moved. I waited until she looked the other way and moved the chair closer (now about 10 feet away) and continued to shoot, still not moving. I move to just the other side of the trail, but still not totally on the sun side and I got the following shots.
1. This is the most distant shot, the reason she was on the bush
http://www.pbase.com/dancinec/image/70861181.jpg
2. This is when she looked up and then I move closer.
http://www.pbase.com/image/70936931.jpg
3. She looked directly at me, I did not move.
1/1600s f/7.1 at 400.0 mm iso400

4. She just starting to preen herself.
1/1600s f/7.1 at 400.0 mm iso400
[IMG]http://www.pbase.com/dancinec/image/70827096.jpg
5. she looked back up at me, but didn't fly away.
1/1600s f/7.1 at 400.0 mm iso400
http://upload.pbase.com/dancinec/image/70827093.jpg
6. She looked toward the flats of the marsh
1/1600s f/7.1 at 400.0 mm iso400
http://upload.pbase.com/dancinec/image/70916771.jpg
7. She took off, down to the ground then out over the tideland. I almost missed that last shot.
1/2000s f/7.1 at 400.0 mm iso400
http://www.pbase.com/dancinec/image/70827094.jpg

[pttenn]

You lucky so and so! What an amazing series of shots. Beautiful bird!
Karen

[dazzlebea]

Oh, congrats! These shots are lovely! The 1st and 4th are my favorites. The last one made me laugh, you were really cutting it close :)

[DDan]

Very nice shot. You were cutting it close on the last one. The first one is my favorite. The details are nice and sharp.

[Wayne Wood]

That's awesome Dennis , to be that close to a Kestral , wow ,,, I can't even drive down the same road there on with out them taking off ,,, well done bud

[Paul A]

Excellent shots Dennis, you were very quick to get the inflight shot, they take off like rockets.

[ngannet]

Wow, did you get lucky! Nice shots. Not an easy bird to approach. Amazing how close you were able to get!

[Reyno]

Fantastic captures and great timing on the in-flight. Well done Dennis.

[MDoc]

those are just wonderful shots. good comp.

[cannylad]

Great images, your patient approach has paid off

[Gary Fairhead]

Dynamite series here Dennis and you must have ben thrilled. I can't get close to this species ......usually like to play tag with me and i am always it.

[canonloader]

Beautiful shots Dennis. She obviously didn't feel threatened by you.

So be honest. Did you pee your pants a little bit? :mrgreen:

[jorj7]

Nice series Dennis, these birds are hard to get close to.

[T.D.]

Great series! These guys are not at all easy to get close to.

Way to go!

[Anthony J Howe]

I don't often say wow! But I'm going to this time...WOW!!! stunning shots Dennis of the American kestrel, you have done yourself proud to get up close and personal. Well done.

[bromm]

excellent series here, i'm going to have to quit work soon to follow these birds full time to get a good capture, well done!

[dancinec]

You lucky so and so! What an amazing series of shots. Beautiful bird!
KarenThanks Karen, for your kind comments.
Oh, congrats! These shots are lovely! The 1st and 4th are my favorites. The last one made me laugh, you were really cutting it close Thanks Bea, I thought I had missed the last shot until I looked at the photo.
Very nice shot. You were cutting it close on the last one. The first one is my favorite. The details are nice and sharp.Thanks Dan, those little hawks are very fast.
That's awesome Dennis , to be that close to a Kestral , wow ,,, I can't even drive down the same road there on with out them taking off ,,, well done budThanks Wayne, that has been my previous experience with them as well, as soon as they saw, gone...
Excellent shots Dennis, you were very quick to get the inflight shot, they take off like rockets.Thanks Paul, not as good as those beautiful shots you posted, but for me, this as good as it gets.
Wow, did you get lucky! Nice shots. Not an easy bird to approach. Amazing how close you were able to get!
Thanks Bob, it was very exciting, didn't know how long it would last. I kept expecting her to take off.
Fantastic captures and great timing on the in-flight. Well done Dennis.
Thanks Reyno for the kind remarks.
those are just wonderful shots. good comp.Thanks taking time to comment.
Great images, your patient approach has paid offThanks Cannylad, can not be in a hurry around birds.
Dynamite series here Dennis and you must have ben thrilled. I can't get close to this species ......usually like to play tag with me and i am always it.Thanks Gary, I have been "it" several times as well.
Beautiful shots Dennis. She obviously didn't feel threatened by you.

So be honest. Did you pee your pants a little bit? Thanks Canonloader, with my camo pants it didn't show.
Nice series Dennis, these birds are hard to get close to.Thanks George, getting any rain up there?
Great series! These guys are not at all easy to get close to.

Way to go!
Thanks Turnerzdad for your kind remarks.
I don't often say wow! But I'm going to this time...WOW!!! stunning shots Dennis of the American kestrel, you have done yourself proud to get up close and personal. Well done.
Thanks Tony, I was lucky or it was a nearsighted hawk.

[kr88]

Lucky you!!! You've got some great captures here Dennis. What a feeling it is to find a Kestrel that close to you and to keep your composure and come away with a great series of shots. Well done!

[Stormin_24]

Man, you should be stoked... These are great... I especially like #3 and the one in flight...

[canondslruser]

Cool shots of the Kestrel. Tough lighting conditions since part of the bird is in shade and part in bright light. I like your approach technique though :-)

For the life of me I can't understand why they won't just sit still for a few shots :rolleyes: Don't they know I just want to take a picture :lol:

[canonloader]

For the life of me I can't understand why they won't just sit still for a few shots
They don't like being stared at. You could walk right by them if your not looking at them or paying any attention, and they will just sit there. Stop and stare or point the Canon at them and they just fly away from it. Try just walking close and then duck behind a bush or tree and stay out of sight a few minutes. Then you can peek around with the camera ready and maybe he'll ignore you long enough to get the shots. ;)

[Damien]

sorry Im new around here am I the only one who thinks the bird is not sharpe ?
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/1440/997998049106958/1600/70827417.jpg

I think its sharper if you look at the hair on the chest maybe not , sorry I cut off a bit Im a rubbish photographer anyway so ignore me or tell me to get lost

[sandpiper]

Great set of shots, I particularly like 3 & 6. The last one is also a nice catch but spoiled (IMHO) by the black patch by the tail, which I find a little distracting, and particularly by the fact that it is flying out of the frame.

I realise that in these situations you don't have the luxury of time to compose, you grab a shot and hope (I have many shots with a wing or head out of the frame). You managed to capture the whole bird so a couple of minutes more spent on the processing would solve these problems, if you wanted to of course.

I had a quick play (about 3 minutes) to show how I would have processed it, not that my way is necessarily the 'correct' one of course, just an alternative viewpoint.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c19/sandpiperphotos/70827094.jpg

[tomcio]

Great catch !!! I wish I could get this close.
I just did a quick pp on one of the photos (as they look a bit dull) and wow what a diff. Try to increase the contast and saturation via levels, curves. That makes them really pop.

[dancinec]

Great set of shots, I particularly like 3 & 6. The last one is also a nice catch but spoiled (IMHO) by the black patch by the tail, which I find a little distracting, and particularly by the fact that it is flying out of the frame.

I realise that in these situations you don't have the luxury of time to compose, you grab a shot and hope (I have many shots with a wing or head out of the frame). You managed to capture the whole bird so a couple of minutes more spent on the processing would solve these problems, if you wanted to of course.

I had a quick play (about 3 minutes) to show how I would have processed it, not that my way is necessarily the 'correct' one of course, just an alternative viewpoint.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c19/sandpiperphotos/70827094.jpg
How did you move the bird without having a blank space from where it was?

[dancinec]

Great catch !!! I wish I could get this close.
I just did a quick pp on one of the photos (as they look a bit dull) and wow what a diff. Try to increase the contast and saturation via levels, curves. That makes them really pop.Please I would like to see what you did.

[canonloader]

Dennis, in CS2 or PS 7, look in the Filters menu for Extract. Duplicate a layer and play with it on that. In the extract window, top left, there are some tools. It opens with a draw brush circle. Outline what you want to extract then use the paintbucket tool to fill, then click OK and the fill will stay and all the rest is gone. Then you can drag that layer around to position it. Extract is the secret weapon. Just found it myself after several years of using the worthless Lasso tool. ;)

Takes practice though, you need to play with it some.

[sandpiper]

How did you move the bird without having a blank space from where it was?

I didn't move the bird, I just widened the canvas to give a blank area on the right then cloned some sky in, attempting to continue the tones from the main picture. The slightly darker band, for instance, continues across the new area. I cropped off the left and top a little to keep the balance. The black patch was similarly cloned out (not perfectly, there is still a touch of tone balancing needed between the far wing and the tail but this was a quicky job). I also tweaked the levels and contrast very slightly, I agree with tomcio that they are a touch flat although I kept the adjustments subtle, to keep them natural rather than going for 'pop'. Both styles have merit, it is just up to personal taste, I tried to stay close to your style.

The last step was a touch of sharpening which has taken some of the softness out of the head and boosted the catchlight in the eyes.

The widening canvas and cloning in more background is a trick I have done to salvage several shots where the subject is too close to the edge. It is a pretty quick adjustment usually, assuming you are practised in cloning and getting the tones matched.

[dancinec]

Dennis, in CS2 or PS 7, look in the Filters menu for Extract. Duplicate a layer and play with it on that. In the extract window, top left, there are some tools. It opens with a draw brush circle. Outline what you want to extract then use the paintbucket tool to fill, then click OK and the fill will stay and all the rest is gone. Then you can drag that layer around to position it. Extract is the secret weapon. Just found it myself after several years of using the worthless Lasso tool. ;)

Takes practice though, you need to play with it some.
Sounds cool, thanks.

[Stephen Stephen]

Congratulations Dennis! I love the shots but Number 1 & 2 seem to be missing.

[dancinec]

Congratulations Dennis! I love the shots but Number 1 & 2 seem to be missing.Thanks Stephen, I fixed the problem.

[catsith]

how exciting for you, great shots

[Sindri Skulason]

Great series. Well done. :-)

[kilowat]

wow great shots yes you are lucky,are good ;)

[dancinec]

Thanks Keith, Stormin 24, canondsluser, sandpiper, tomcio, damien, Tina, Sindri and Mike for your comments and critiques.