Swallow Tailed Kite on the Wing

Posted by Matthew Whitley on Wed Mar 29, 2006 7:02 pm

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Swallow Tailed Kite
Everglades National Park

This is my $700 photo... I came back to my car today at Anhinga to find the vultures had ripped up my sunroof (which will cost $700 to replace)... shortly afterword, I got one pass from this guy. I've been trying for a top shot and got one, although I did blow the whites! I stopped down 1/3 from incident, but should have done 2/3 or maybe even a full stop... these guys are always a tradeoff when it comes to exposure. Hope you like it!

Canon 1DII, 600IS, Hand held

[b] [color=GREEN][u]MATTHEW K.WHITLEY[/u][/color]
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by RichardMittleman/Gon2Foto on Wed Mar 29, 2006 7:20 pm

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I didn't notice the blown white until you mentioned it. The blown whites "mantra" bugs me in images like this where the white is a very insignificant amount of the image and 99% of the image is exposed perfectly. In addition the perspective on this image is so good, that the blown whites don't count for anything as far as I'm concerned.

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by JeanH on Wed Mar 29, 2006 7:26 pm

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A beauty Matthew...sorry about your roof!!! I am thinking of going down to Anhinga this weekend...do you think they'll be around on Sunday?

"The question is not what you look at but what you see" Henry David Thoreau

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by dash on Wed Mar 29, 2006 7:30 pm

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Well done Matthew. I am with Richard on the whites. There is a great deal to like about this image. The wing and tail positions are extraordinarily lovely. I like the bluse sky in the BG as well. In all, very well done.

David Asscherick

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by Ruleta on Wed Mar 29, 2006 7:55 pm

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Ouch, sorry about the car...heard similar stories from other people parking there.
The photo is beautiful! It makes up for the otherwise bad day, I hope.

Lorraine

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by Chris Kayler on Wed Mar 29, 2006 8:36 pm

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Killer shot Matthew. I'm with Richard on the whites.

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by KK Hui on Wed Mar 29, 2006 8:45 pm

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A graceful pose and love seeing the top view, Matthew!
Sorry to hear your story ...

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by satie on Wed Mar 29, 2006 8:49 pm

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Awesome shot, Matthew! I dont care about the whites either.

Satie Sharma

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by Jim Neely on Wed Mar 29, 2006 9:05 pm

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Very nice shot. I wouldn't have noticed the hot whites if you hadn't mentioned it.

You might tame the whites by combining a linear conversion with a normal conversion.

jn

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by Judd Patterson on Wed Mar 29, 2006 9:57 pm

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This is a beautiful bird Matthew! Very nice photograph, but I'm sorry to hear about your sunroof. I hope that I will finally get a chance to photograph the kites this weekend.

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by eagle43 on Wed Mar 29, 2006 11:19 pm

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Well done Matthew. You got the kind of shot I've been trying to get .

Congrats!!!!!!!!!

Roy

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by Chas on Wed Mar 29, 2006 11:48 pm

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Matt,

It matters most to the pixel police

I would have opted as you did here sacrificing a bit of the highlights for detail overall. A fine image, and one to be proud of for sure.

Best,

Chas

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by Ofer Levy on Thu Mar 30, 2006 4:02 am

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Lovely shot! I don't see how you could have done better in here.. :roll:

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by Jim Neiger on Thu Mar 30, 2006 8:55 am

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Cool shot, Matthew

[b]Jim Neiger - [url=http://www.flightschoolphotography.com]Flight School Photography[/b][/url]
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by E.J. Peiker on Thu Mar 30, 2006 9:30 am

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You might be able to get some of the blown whites back with a linear conversion. Body and wing position is excellent here.

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by Richard_ on Thu Mar 30, 2006 9:44 am

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Nice one Matt, I'm still trying to come to terms with the fact that there's raptors with a swallow tail, having not seen them before until you guys started posting shots a few weeks ago.

With the blown head, let's look at it logically, to the naked eye you have to get pretty darn close to a bird with white feathers before you see any actual detail, so in a lot of cases the "blown highlight" is a perception.

Richard

Last edited by Richard_ on Thu Mar 30, 2006 9:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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by Dennis Olivero on Thu Mar 30, 2006 10:28 am