WolfAvni
FollowI chased this shot from the south to the north of the Kgalagadi, and back again four 3 months spread over three years. Finally got the shot from the parking lo...
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I chased this shot from the south to the north of the Kgalagadi, and back again four 3 months spread over three years. Finally got the shot from the parking lot at the gate on my way out the park. Who would have thought it figures? :)
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Awards
People's Choice in Raptors On The Wing - 1 Photo Challenge
Peer Award
Magnificent Capture
Top Choice
Absolute Masterpiece
All Star
Superb Composition
Superior Skill
Genius
Outstanding Creativity
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
Kgalagadi Desert.Time
Around 7.00 a.m. Out in the African bush, the midday sun burns hard and hot. Average summer sun colour temperature comes in at about 6400~10,000 Kelvin. The shadows are hard and solid and the lightbtends to be very blue. . Wildlife photographers tend to concentrate on early morning and late afternoon, around the Golden half Hour.Lighting
Generally birds in flight are shot against strong back-lighting. A bit of cloud cover helps diffuse the sun. the higher the cloud, the better the light bounce.Equipment
Nikon d3 + nikkor 200~400mm f4 VRII . Off a Badger bean bag in car window.Inspiration
This is an image I chased for about 3 months over 3 expeditions. I came close a dozen times... shooting off a beanbag in a car vwindow. But "almost " doesn't cut the mustard. Either the bird would take off away from camera, or the bird would launch as I blinked, or looked away, or stretched a stiff muscle. Fortunately these pale chanting goshawks are not uncommon in the Kalahari and the opportunity did present more than once. I just kept plugging away until it came togetherEditing
Capture NX2. very little. Camera presets are all on neutral. I tend to just tap chroma upwards a tiny fraction, and then a pass of selective unsharp mask on the the resized 72dpi jpeg image ~generally between 1 ~3 pixel width.In my camera bag
2x D3's, a range of old Nikkor analog lenses from 24mm ~500mm CPU lenses;14~24mm f2.8, 80~200mm f2.8, 200~400mm f4 VRIIFeedback
The opportunity in the bush is often fleeting. It helps to have the camera preset for birds IN flight SMALL BIRDS; preset Iso 3200, shutter speed 1/3200th, aperture f6.3 MEDIUM BIRDS; preset Iso 2500, shutter speed 1/2500th, aperture f7.1 LARGE BIRDS; preset Iso 1600, shutter speed 1/1600th, aperture f8