![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/american-kestrel-2869-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"american-kestrel-2869-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nOccasionally one of my photos will grow on me the more I reflect on it\u00a0and this one from yesterday morning is an example.<\/p>\n
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1\/6400, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n This female American Kestrel\u00a0was actually in the middle of enjoying a meal of vole as I watched\u00a0her through my lens yesterday morning\u00a0(she’s holding it in her left foot behind the rock). For much of that time she was facing me so I couldn’t see much of her tail or wings but here she’d turned enough to allow a good look at her entire body. She was very cooperative, especially for a kestrel, so she allowed me almost\u00a010 minutes with her as she consumed the vole. Out of 400+ photos of her this is one of my favorites.<\/p>\n I like the craggy natural\u00a0perch that includes two lichen colors, the sprigs of grass near the perch, the slightly side-lit angle works well for my tastes, the\u00a0little falcon\u00a0is sharp throughout and her pose appeals to me (including how she’s looking out into the empty space to our left rather than over the top of the rock to our right).<\/p>\n But for me two more subtle aspects of the image that I didn’t pay much attention to at first\u00a0provide significant enhancement:<\/p>\n Aesthetic tastes are often personal and unique to individuals of course so I’m sure many of my viewers will have a different take on this\u00a0photo and that’s as it should be. But I’ve provided mine, for what that’s worth…<\/p>\n I’ll likely\u00a0post other images of this beautiful lady sometime in the near future but over time I wouldn’t be surprised if this one becomes one of my favorites, of any raptor. But it usually takes me some time to come to final conclusions like that so I’ll just have to wait and see.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n PS – No image is perfect and this one is no exception. If I had my druthers there’d be better\u00a0color\u00a0separation between her dark bill and the shaded portion between her neck and shoulder. And the rocky perch could be slightly sharper but since she was standing behind the front face of\u00a0the rock\u00a0I didn’t have enough depth of field to accomplish that\u00a0while shooting at f\/6.3.\u00a0In addition\u00a0I certainly didn’t need a shutter speed of 1\/6400 but this is one of the first photos I took of her and I hadn’t yet had time to adjust my settings.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n