Kestrel hunting

Photo of the Week by malfis

I shot this image a couple of days ago.
Driving along a local road I saw this Kestrel hovering fairly close to the roadside. I had my K3iii and DA*300mm in the car with me, so I pulled over. The bird was kind enough to stay long enough for me to get off a few shots.
The light was abysmal, very dull and flat, so I've had to do a lot of recovery of shadows etc.. I'm quite pleased with the result considering the conditions.
Uploaded10/03/2023 - 12:43
CategoryWildlife / Nature
Shutter Speed1/2500
Aperturef/6.3
ISO640
Focal Length300mm
Views/Likes73/4

Posted 10/03/2023 - 17:15 Link
Cracking pic. That is super sharp, well done. So sharp I thought you had used AI or something? Topaz, etc.
malfis
Posted 10/03/2023 - 18:29 Link
loadoftripe wrote:
Cracking pic. That is super sharp, well done. So sharp I thought you had used AI or something? Topaz, etc.

I used Topaz noise reduction, but not sharpening. In my experience of Denoise, the cleaning up of the image also applies slight sharpening to offset the effects of denoising the image.
My copy of the DA*300 is incredibly sharp - even with the 1.4 t/c. I love the lens.
Lots of gear - but not a lot of idea!
Posted 10/03/2023 - 23:05 Link
Excellent photo of a lovely little bird of prey, not easy to get one in flight they dont hang about long once they see a camera.
GIULIO57
Posted 13/03/2023 - 15:04 Link
A well deserved POTW
PPG
malfis
Posted 13/03/2023 - 22:51 Link
Thank you for your kind comments.
Lots of gear - but not a lot of idea!
pauljay
Posted 14/03/2023 - 10:27 Link
Kestrels will stay up there all day long in hover mode and, as I've noticed around these parts, they'll let you get reasonably close, as opposed to buzzards who don't let you get within 100m! Nice shot!
Paul.

Photography is not a sport. It has no rules. Everything must be dared and tried! (Bill Brandt)
PPG
davidtrout
Posted 16/03/2023 - 09:01 Link
A well captured image and a worthy POTW. Apart from the original capture a lot of skill went into processing it.

David
Posted 16/03/2023 - 18:05 Link
davidtrout wrote:
A well captured image and a worthy POTW. Apart from the original capture a lot of skill went into processing it.

David

+1 and re. processing skill - definitely.
Be well, stay safe, but most of all, invest in memories

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