Peregrine Falcons food transfer in mid-air

Image Critiques Avian Critiques
1

Peregrines_food-transfer_5859 copy.jpg
Peregrines_food-transfer_5859 copy.jpg2000Ă—1920 2.44 MB

Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

I spent a couple of hours waiting for the male Peregrine to bring back a kill to the female near the nest on a cliff face. She flew out to receive the bird prey at about 100 feet from the ground with lots of vocalization. The whole transfer was only a few seconds so I shot at my fastest frame rate of 30 frames per second. This was close to sunset and very warm light reflecting off the cliff and on the birds. I did not adjust white balance so that is pretty much what I saw.

Technical Details

Sony A1 with 600 GM Sony lens at f7.1 and 1/3200 sec, ISO 500 and heavy cropping

2 Likes
2

Wow Larry, what a magnificent shot! This is one of a kind. The birds are sharp and the BG is very interesting and has enough blur to keep your eye on the birds. What a catch! Thanks for sharing.

3

I’ll echo Donna’s “Wow”; pretty unique shot, I’d guess. The falcons show excellent detail and stand out well from the background. Great job.

4

Superb catch, Larry. I really love the relative positions of the birds and how well the difference in size shows. The tuft of down on the talons of the male helps tell the story even more.

5

Awesome capture! :slight_smile:

Not much else to say really.

6

Wow! Watch a capture…for you and the birds! Great shot…to be really picky…I wish the background was not quite so bright…but I don’t have any suggestions how to take it down a teence. Amazing!!!

7

Wow - love this capture Larry! Such dynamic interaction with the perfect moment caught. Image quality held up well for the heavy crop you mentioned.

Since @Robena.Sirett mentioned it and just for grins, I played around with reducing the background brightness using Viveza 3 control points. Hope you don’t mind. Here’s a quick and dirty below. I think your original is fantastic as is.

AS - Peregrines_food-transfer_5859 copy
AS - Peregrines_food-transfer_5859 copy2000Ă—1920 2.5 MB

8

Great capture Larry. I love the wide open beak of the female going in for the grab. Terrific position of both birds and you can really see the size difference between the male and the female. 2 more months and we’re back in action for this year. Can’t wait.

9

Wow indeed!! A fantastic catch with wonderful camera skills and processing! I wonder if there is a workable way to turn the ice plant into rock?

10

Hi Larry
It is amazing the size difference between male and female Peregrine Falcons. Love the interaction and my presence is for the brighter background. The A1 did a good job shooting at 30 frames per second, ( no rolling frame distortion). plus great feather detail.
Nice work.
Peter

11

Very cool shot, and I love the undulating background, which doesn’t distract too much from the great action. Well-deserved EP!

1 Like
12

Thanks David. hope to see you soon.

13

Thanks Max for comment.

14

Hi Larry, what an amazing capture of this action. Very, very impressive and a well-deserved EP ! Cheers, Hans

15

Your food transfer shot is superb. You got 16AC and her mate with the cliff wall in the background, which is my preference and is not a common opportunity there. Usually they are against the sky when shot from the beach. The softness of the focus on the cliff wall and the relative luminance is, in my opinion, ideal. The position of the birds with the prey between them is excellent. Unfortunately I have no suggestions for improvement. As I said, superb!