Snail Kite in flight

Posted by Jim Urbach on Mon Nov 24, 2003 6:27 pm

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Working on getting better images of this bird with better separation of his head. Unfortunately his flight schedule is quite irregularly so I'm in limbo for long stretches of time.

1D, 600IS, 1.4X, ISO 200, ev -2/3,fill -2,f8.

Comments and reposts welcome

Jim

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Jim Urbach

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by Ken Newcombe on Mon Nov 24, 2003 6:47 pm

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Jim,

A nicely posed bird. The flash fill was not strong enough to lighten the shadows.

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by BrianS on Mon Nov 24, 2003 7:02 pm

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Love everything about this except the details hidden in the shadows...wondering if a contrast mask would pull some of it out.

[b]Brian Spangler[/b]
[url=http://brianspangler.naturescapes.net][b][u]http://brianspangler.naturescapes.net[/u][/b][/url]
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by Alan Murphy on Mon Nov 24, 2003 8:40 pm

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Other than the detail loss, it's a very nice photo. Love how he's looking at you.

Alan Murphy
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by LHays on Mon Nov 24, 2003 8:44 pm

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Jim
It's a great shot. I, too wish for a little more detail underneath. Perhaps the new shadow/highlight recovery in PS CS might be of assistance. It's still a nice flight shot....and something I find very difficult to do.

Lana Hays
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by Bill Whala on Mon Nov 24, 2003 8:52 pm

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Jim,

Very nice shot. I love the head turn.

Bill Whala

"Aves of similar plumage tend to converge with one another"

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by Jim Urbach on Mon Nov 24, 2003 9:19 pm

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I agree with all that I needed more fill. Hopefully he'll be patrolling more and his flight pattern will bring him closer.

Jim

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by Bruce Sherman on Mon Nov 24, 2003 10:16 pm

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Jim,
This is a great start. Keep at it. I would bet we will be seeing better flight shots of these guys from you.

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by AlexC on Mon Nov 24, 2003 10:30 pm

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Hard bird to shoot and you have done pretty well, I have not seen one in almost a year!!, Boy I do miss them, but they should be coming back soon!!, The question is when!!!
Congrats!!

[b]Alex Calzadilla[/b]
[b]Miami, Florida[/b]
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"At the feast of ego everyone leaves hungry." - Bentley's House of Coffee and Tea, Tucson, AZ

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by Jill on Mon Nov 24, 2003 11:51 pm

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Jim, This is likely a female; males are darker overall. As for availability, head to the Old Airboat Ride site on the north side of the Tamiami Trail, across from the Tower Motel, 1.0 mile west of the Shark Valley entrance of Everglades National Park. The parking lot is blocked off, but there is still room to pull over. If a Snail Kite isn't sitting or flying in plain view, spend some time scanning. A Snail Kite or ten will usually show up before long. I've found this site to be extremely reliable for several years now.

Jill Rosenfield

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by Juan E. Bahamon on Tue Nov 25, 2003 12:52 am

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Nice capture. As mentioned before more fill flash would have given more detail on the shadows.

Juan E. Bahamon
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by Wayne Ellis on Tue Nov 25, 2003 2:16 am

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Hi Jim,

I love the angle of the head.

Comments and reposts welcome

Wayne Ellis

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by scottleslie on Tue Nov 25, 2003 7:50 am

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Extremely nice shot Jim. Yes it might be a little dark under the wings, but to get an image this good of this species is, I imagine, quite difficult. You sound like a man on a mission, though, so I can't wait to see what you post of this kite in the future.
Scott

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by Sandy Mossberg on Tue Nov 25, 2003 9:37 am

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Nice one, Jim, but I agree with the above comments about the shadows. I tried to work on it a bit in PS but got nothing that pleased me.

Sandy Mossberg
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by E.J. Peiker on Tue Nov 25, 2003 10:51 am

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Cool bird - there is probably enough latitude in the original RAW file to bring out a lot of detail in the shadowed parts of the bird with some good image processing.

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by Bruce DiVaccaro on Tue Nov 25, 2003 1:16 pm

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Jim,

Very nice shot. Excellent pose and composition.

Bruce DiVaccaro
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by Jim Neiger on Tue Nov 25, 2003 1:54 pm

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Nice capture, Jim. I hope this bird is there tomorrow. See ya then.

[b]Jim Neiger - [url=http://www.flightschoolphotography.com]Flight School Photography[/b][/url]
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