Black Kites - India

[saifulbahar]

Hi guys....

More of black kites...

#1


#2



As usual, any comments are welcomed and greatly appreciated.


Saiful Bahar

[Jeff]

Nice shots u have here. Some points to note though.

#1: I cannot see its eyes. It is very important that the eyes of your avain subject be lit up, may it partial or total, to inject some life force into the picture, like in #2. Fill-flash also serves to banish shadows filled regions, revealing more details and an overall happier feeling to the pix.

#2: Exposure is a little tricky here. I can see the light in its eyes and also the hot yellow in the talons. For this shot, flash is a must to save the yellows. I would -0.5 eV (at least) and used a flash gun to fill the shadowy region, especially the underside. For this shot, it appears to me the sun is coming from the LHS. The fact that I don't see any light from the LHS in #1 suggested that you were shooting on a cloudy day, perhaps with intermittern light?

I have no comments on the composition though since both are pretty high up from your perspective.

A better reference set of shots can be found in posts by SK Foo and P.E..

Great efforts here.

[saifulbahar]

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the tips. The birds were quite high in the tree top and my flash (sigma 500 DG Super) certainly will not be able to reach it. And also, I was out for street shooting so these shots were taken in coincidence.. The sky here are basically very monotonous without clouds and very foggy these no details on the clouds.

Thanks for the tips. Appreciate it.

[ParkertR]

Dont have much to comment on :P must say that you got pretty good pictures considering you werent out birding! what lens was on your camera? what setup?

[saifulbahar]

Hi ParkertR,

I'm using Tamron 70-300mm LD Macro. No circular polarizer and had it on Sport AE. #1 - ASA 400, 1/1000s and f5.6. #2 - ASA 400, 1/1600s and f5.6.

thanks

[ParkertR]

wow, looks like that lens is pretty sharp... are you using a canon or nikon? hehe~ just HAVE to ask :P

[saifulbahar]

Originally Posted by ParkertR wow, looks like that lens is pretty sharp... are you using a canon or nikon? hehe~ just HAVE to ask :P

Using Canon 300D for now. Am intending to change to 20D quite soon. But its not worth to get expensive cameras for India cause the air is so dusty and maintaining camera is basically on a daily basis... Wish I could get Sigma 135-400 or Tamron 200-400 for birding. India is a great place for birding and lots of birds sanctuaries... only wish I had more time to go out..

[ParkertR]

ahh~ what are you doing in india? well.. for me im s'porean too but in thailand cuz im studying here :P i'v egot a tamron 200-400 and its sharp love the lens... looking to upgrade to nikkor 200-400vr though. sigh... so expensive :S

[saifulbahar]

posted here since last october and will be here till atleast march and if not, june of this year...

india is great for hobby photographer like me especially when studio lights are really cheap here... but anything other than that, imported cameras and accessories are damn expensive and also hard to get...

yeah, wish i could get on of those IS lens but quite expensive for just a hobby...

anyways, i'm going to bangkok next month and there's a camera shop that sells 2nd hand stuffs there, hope to pick my a cheap lens...

[Newguy69]

Nice capture

Cheers