Red Kites

Daysleeper40

Daysleeper40

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We have a lot of Red Kites in my local area and I have resolutely failed to get any shots of them in the years we've lived here. Went for a stroll today and there were loads of them flapping around. Finally managed to get a few shots that as a newbie to bird photography I was quite happy with. C&C welcome as I would like to improve on these. Obviously I'v have preferred a nice blue sky but otherwise - any tips gratefully received!!

(edit to add - all these were taken with my Nikon D7000 and Nikon 70-300mm lens)

1.
DSC_8957 by Daysleeper40, on Flickr

2.
DSC_8827 by Daysleeper40, on Flickr

3.
DSC_8956 by Daysleeper40, on Flickr

Full set on Flickr here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/daysleeper40/sets/72157652550831524

Thanks for looking :)
 
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Wondering if I should take the silence positively or negatively???

I'm leaning towards negatively.
 
not sure that there is much to say apart from that you have done very well with the D7000 and 70 300mmVR Nikon

BIF shots are difficult at the best of time - so you have done very well to get them as sharpe

The bird section on this Forum is not the best for getting a range of useful feedback
 
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BillN_33 said:
not sure that there is much to say apart from that you have done very well with the D700 and 70 300mmVR Nikon

BIF shots are difficult at the best of time - so you have done very well to get them as sharpe

The bird section on this Forum is not the best for getting a range of useful feedback
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Thank you - appreciate you taking the time to comment.
 
Martin Clay said:
I think you could nudge the vibrancy and saturation sliders towards the +ve side a touch more.
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you just need to watch the shadows under the wings and not loose detail
In fact you could try bringing the shadows back to see if it brings out more detail
 
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As above, very well done as a newbie and with the kit you have

They look a little noisey, did these shots turn out underexposed and have you had to recover them in PP?

It's a common problem when shooting against a very bright sky, make sure you use centre point metering, and can also help to dial in some exposure compensation too
 
Some very nice photos and first attempt. It's always difficult when the sky is grey as in photo 2.

I agree with Bill, you maybe able to lift the shadows to show some more detail on the under wing, especially photo 1. If you get the oportunity again, try increasing the exposure compenstaion on the camera, on my D7100 I would often go to +1.0 to try and get better exposure of the underside of the bird.
 
I am no expert and I really have no real advice to give, all I can say is well done for getting the shots in the first place!!

Trev.
 
Swanseajack said:
Some very nice photos and first attempt. It's always difficult when the sky is grey as in photo 2.

I agree with Bill, you maybe able to lift the shadows to show some more detail on the under wing, especially photo 1. If you get the oportunity again, try increasing the exposure compenstaion on the camera, on my D7100 I would often go to +1.0 to try and get better exposure of the underside of the bird.
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+1 from me.

Good effort for a first attempt - if you try again consider increasing the exposure comp as already mentioned You could achieve this by reducing from F8 / F9 (some of the shots showing that) and probably get away nicely with F6.3 or 7.1.

Dave.
 
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As when taking aircraft a friend always took his light levels from the grass around him and used those readings for the shoot. It added light to the shadows under the wings.
 
Light Tower One said:
As when taking aircraft a friend always took his light levels from the grass around him and used those readings for the shoot. It added light to the shadows under the wings.
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Yes - you could lock the exposure when pointing the camera at a scene that best suits your needs.

The key thing from this thread is that the birds are abundant and they are not flying away at great speed. So I would experiment with different things and see what works best.

If I find myself in such a situation then I get a few shots in case the subject decides to move then I will start experimenting. Just keep checking the images and try different things :)
 
These look like very decent BIF shots to me, all things considered. I agree that they could maybe be improved in PP but plenty of detail and some lovely poses there. Like these !
 
Thank you all very much for the tips - I did struggle with the dhadows under the wings so this is all really helpful stuff! Sorry it took me ages to reply - I do appreciate everyone taking the time to comment :)
 
You might consider selecting 1024 pixels for future linked posts. These have nice impact with the full size originals on Flickr which is lost in the smaller linked shots.
 
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