Red Kite
Snapped in Weyhill, UK, at the Hawk Conservancy Trust, which rescues and repatriates injured raptors. Taken with Pentax K-5 IIs and DA300mm f4....
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Snapped in Weyhill, UK, at the Hawk Conservancy Trust, which rescues and repatriates injured raptors. Taken with Pentax K-5 IIs and DA300mm f4.
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Jan, 2016Views
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jamesjohnston_3471
July 06, 2017
Fantastic image! As a bird photographer myself, I know how difficult it can be to get good close-ups.
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
Image taken at the Hawk Conservancy Trust, near Andover, UK, on August 16 2015.Time
Late in the morning - although I can't be absolutely specific because I rarely change the time settings on my camera when the clock moves fore or aft...Lighting
Lots of luck involved. Set in glorious woodland, the Hawk Conservancy repairs and repatriates injured raptors and in summer the leafy surroundings create lots of shade. On sunny days, though, there are pools of light.. and I just happened to pass as a red kite poked its head into such a pool. I flicked the camera to spot metering and hoped for the best.Equipment
The shot was taken hand-held, with Pentax K-5 IIs and Pentax 300mm f4.Inspiration
The prevailing light, pure and simple.Editing
I have precious few PP skills, beyond cropping to tune the composition and clicking 'auto smart fix' in PS Elements. If that makes things look better, all well and good. If it doesn't, I revert to the original. I'm not exactly a digitial version of Cartier-Bresson...In my camera bag
At the time I took the red kite shot, I had a Pentax K-5 IIs and a Pentax K-3, together with a fairly wide range of lenses (the Pentax 300mm f4 and Tamron 70-200 f2.8 being most commonly used). In September 2015, however, a friend lent me a Nikon D4 to evaluate. I do lots of motor sport photography and found the Nikon AF to be much better suited to the task. I love Pentax products and kept my K-5 IIs and a couple of lenses, but nowadays my regular kit includes Nikon D800, Nikon D700, Nikkor 300mm f4, Sigma 70-200mm f2.8, Sigma 24-105mm f4, Nikkor 50mm f1.8 and a Nikkor 1.4 teleconverter. The 200-500mm f5.6 is on my shopping list, along with far too many other things I can't really afford.Feedback
I don't feel I'm sufficiently qualified to offer advice to others! My photographic philosophy tends to be - in no partuicular order - to experiment and to enjoy. Natural light is your friend, so make the most of it.
