Red Kites - close ups

[Falk]

In my local neck of the woods I have a pair of Ravens, which I thought of visiting this morning, to see if they are doing fine. They did

Here is a long shot, just for the records ...

Slowly following a trail from underneeth the Ravens nest into the woods a Red Kite perched on an Oak maybe 80m in front. Got some lousy records shots through branches - but he was kind enough to move to a better position - and stayed for half an hour - with my son and me closing in - in plain sight, of course. Shot at least 100 photos of him - like these:



The sun was with me today

I was glad he decided to move, because I had planed to follow said trail to reach a certain spot. But I would have backed out, as to not chase him away.

After going only 50m I saw the nest of the Red Kites in a Pine 20m of to the right of our way. Sure enough "Madame" was at home as well. She went out to give us a close inspection - a favor I promtly returned



We she lifted herself up, we soon went on, as to not disturb her breeding etc.

To finish this let me say, that we later saw the male Goshawk bring in some prey and hand it over to his female - the one I photographed the other day. I was also able to confirm their nesting site in the process. All went pretty smooth today I should say.

Hope you'll like these,
Falk

[Greytop]

Re: Red Kites - close ups

Superb shots Falk, were these with a bigma and x1.4 TC?

[Barr1e]

Re: Red Kites - close ups

Superb series Falk - the last one for me is really nice with the pose, colours and textures.

Regards. Barr1e

[Chevvyf1]

Re: Red Kites - close ups

Falk AWESOME shots ! 2 & 3 are the best for me ! so well captured

[birdboy]

Re: Red Kites - close ups

Great set of pictures I particularly like the last one. There is great focu on the Red kite and some good depth of focus to show off the character of the branches.

John

[PeterBirder]

Re: Red Kites - close ups

A great set Falk. The last one for me too.

Thanks for sharing.

[Falk]

Re: Red Kites - close ups

Thanks for all the kind comments guys.
Yes Huw, these are all shot with the Bigma+EC-14 at full 1400mm. The last two were hand held and the other with monopod. Only the Raven is a heavy cropp, the others are cropped only very little and #3 (of the Kite shots) is the full frame.

I have to say, that I am rather pleased with this combination. It seems to me as if the EC-14 also does a nice job in reducing the CA's which the Bigma does deliver sometimes, especially so, when shooting into the light. The weight of the whole assembly does help considerably in reducing camera shake. I had never imagined that I would be able to shoot hand held photos at full lenght with such consistant acceptable results, as I did during the few weeks I now own the Bigma.

[Chevvyf1]

Re: Red Kites - close ups

Thanks for all the kind comments guys.
Yes Huw, these are all shot with the Bigma+EC-14 at full 1400mm. The last two were hand held and the other with monopod. Only the Raven is a heavy cropp, the others are cropped only very little and #3 (of the Kite shots) is the full frame.

I have to say, that I am rather pleased with this combination. It seems to me as if the EC-14 also does a nice job in reducing the CA's which the Bigma does deliver sometimes, especially so, when shooting into the light. The weight of the whole assembly does help considerably in reducing camera shake. I had never imagined that I would be able to shoot hand held photos at full lenght with such consistant acceptable results, as I did during the few weeks I now own the Bigma.

Falk I am taking this "combo" on holidays and hope to capture a few nice, clear bird shots - as yours here !
? "the CA's" Um what is CA's please ?
and what settings did you use on these ?
Thanks

[IainMacD]

Re: Red Kites - close ups

Fantastic Kite shots - I prefer 3 and 5 myself

[Falk]

Re: Red Kites - close ups

Thanks Iain and Chevy.

As said, all from the above were taken at full zoom lenght (1400mm).
IS was in mode 1, also when the monopod was used.
F10
As I had good light I used ISO200 for most shots, however, what you see of the male bird above was done at ISO400 and a shutter speed of 1/500s (spot metering on the bird). Seems as this setting worked best, as my first selection of Kite photos are all set like so.

I usually have the ISO set to AUTO and go with aperture priority (in this case F10). The female (last two) were on ISO AUTO again and came out like this:
#4: F10, ISO500, 1/200s
#5: F10, ISO800, 1/250s
[pls note, that my E-30 is set to expose to the right by +1/3EV]

CA's = Chromatic Abberrations = Colour fringes (see the branches in #4)

I wonder if a lense hood without petals would eleminate this problem alltogether? As I mainly use the long end of the Bigma, I would have no problems with vignetting. Has anybody a source for such an odd 86mm hood - or can share some experiences with self made examples?

Chevy, have a nice trip - and we are certainly all eager to see what you'll bring us back

[Chevvyf1]

Re: Red Kites - close ups

Thanks Iain and Chevy.

As said, all from the above were taken at full zoom lenght (1400mm).
IS was in mode 1, also when the monopod was used.
F10
As I had good light I used ISO200 for most shots, however, what you see of the male bird above was done at ISO400 and a shutter speed of 1/500s (spot metering on the bird). Seems as this setting worked best, as my first selection of Kite photos are all set like so.

I usually have the ISO set to AUTO and go with apperture priority (in this case F10). The female (last two) were on ISO AUTO again and came out like so:
#4: F10, ISO500, 1/200s
#5: F10, ISO800, 1/250s
[pls note, that my E-30 is set to expose to the right by +1/3EV]

CA's = Chromatic Abberrations = Colour fringes (see the branches in #4)

I wonder if a lense hood without petals would eleminate this problem alltogether? As I mainly use the long end of the Bigma, I would have no problems with vignetting. Has anybody a source for such an odd 86mm hood - or can share some experiences with self made examples?

Chevy, have a nice trip - and we are certainly all eager to see what you'll bring us back

Falk - Thanks so much for this ! PeterD set me on the f10 for the BIGMA but in some conditions I use f8 and occasionally I have gone to 2000 ISO

CA ... arrrr YES ! see it now

For home kit Lens hoods see Pete aka Snaarmans posts - I think I shall take some 250 gsm black card and sticky dots - as with so much bright light (about the Equator Islands ) I may well need to "dim down" lots !

ps folding a sheet of A4 black 250 gsm card in half to make it more rigid and wrap around the petal BIGMA lens hood and extend it !

[Guest]

Re: Red Kites - close ups

Plenty of eye detail in the Red Kite, Falk - the Raven ... well yes, just for the records ...

[Tordan58]

Re: Red Kites - close ups

Falk,

Thanks for sharing. The last one stands out, technically and also being an exciting posture.

/Tord

[rsh1960]

Re: Red Kites - close ups

Great set of pictures, Lucky to get so close

[Falk]

Re: Red Kites - close ups

I am back! With one nasty scare more, on my belly
Thanks again for the lately added comments fellows. When I am able to hawl the Bigma into the fields again - and weather permitting, I hope to get some more shots before long. Getting close to the birds shoudn't be to difficult, as they certainly hang about there nesting site. Getting the lighting right might be more of a task ...