"Long Wing"

[David Salem]

• Adobe Photoshop CC (Macintosh)

In the world of North American raptors there are three basic models. The short wing hawks, which consist of Sharpies, Coopers hawks and Goshawks. Broad wings, which consist of Red Tailed, Rough legged, Red shouldered hawks and many other Buteos. And the Long wings, which is the term used for true falcons, like Prairie falcons, Gyr falcons and this beautiful male Peregrine. You can see in this shot why it is named long wing.

Those thin long wings are made to cut through the air and when folded up in a dive (stoop), they are the fastest animals on the planet. There used to be a lot of controversy about the actual speed a falcon can atain in a full stoop, but now with modern micro speedometers the true speed of a falcons stoop is measured much higher than ornithologists and falconers ever thought. One specific falcon was trained by a professional high speed sky diver and the bird was trained to dive along side of him. This falcon was recorded at 244mph in a stoop as she left her trainer in the dust, and he's sky diving at 190mph!! That's as fast as a 2 million dollar Bugatti super car!!

I've been having a great time with my new gear and I can honestly say that I nailed a lot more shots this year at he peregrine eyries due to the killer AF system. Shots just like this one. A high speed pass with a varied BG and the bird coming at me. A very difficult shot for any system!!
This male is always hauling a$$ as he comes into his nesting cove, so getting locked on to him is a real feat and you need to be panning with him pretty fast as he rips by. This fortunate frame is one of about 5 or 6 really nice frames from the same sequence and pass. He was probably doing 80mph in when I caught him and I got some of my best peregrine images ever from this pass with different BGs, but the ones I missed as turned on the afterburners and folded his wigs up are heartbreaking. They started turning a bit soft as I started loosing him. I guess that's what keeps us coming back:bg3:

D5---850mm---f5.6---ss1/2500th---IS0 1000---Handheld@10:45am---35% crop

Thanks as always for looking and for your input. I appreciate it.

David

 

[Daniel Cadieux]

Looks great. I love the look of concentration, and I also like the earthy tones in the BG.

 

[Arthur Morris]

Superb wing position and pose, BKGR, and techs. What I like the best is the head turned stare with just a sliver of the bird's right eye. Thanks for the educational raptor info !

with love, artie

 

[Isaac Grant]

That stare!!! The details, the pose, the background, the color palette are all as good as it gets. Happy your switch has worked out for you as it is always scary and also a huge expense. Your images are something for all to strive for. Not just sharp and beautiful. But also have perfect poses, light, processing, and also an intangible that just draws the eye. Great as always.

 

[Arthur Morris]

That stare!!! The details, the pose, the background, the color palette are all as good as it gets. Happy your switch has worked out for you as it is always scary and also a huge expense. Your images are something for all to strive for. Not just sharp and beautiful. But also have perfect poses, light, processing, and also an intangible that just draws the eye. Great as always.

Great photographers will make great images with whatever gear they have in their hands. But great photographers with the latest Nikon gear in their hands will -- over time -- make a far higher percentage of sharp images without the AF-frustrations of Canon ...

with love, artie

 

[David Salem]

Thanks so much everyone! Glad you like him!

 

[David Salem]

Great photographers will make great images with whatever gear they have in their hands. But great photographers with the latest Nikon gear in their hands will -- over time -- make a far higher percentage of sharp images without the AF-frustrations of Canon ...

with love, artie

Thanks Artie!!

"The AF Frustration" is the perfect term. Not that it doesn't work, just that some of it's inconsistencies are frustrating, especially when you spend a lot of time and energy to get to a location, and in front of a subject, only to be frustrated by the AF system.

Thanks again

 

[annmpacheco]

Late to the party: stellar in every way Dave, love the HA most of all, so intense. WOWSA, you still have "RockStar" status

 

[William Dickson]

Its coming out the screen here...Wouldn't change a thing. Well done David, really like this one.

Will

 

[Dorian Anderson]

Doesn't get any better, David! Love the intense look on his face and the soft pink BG to balance it.

 

[John Mack]

Killer frame. Nice story to go along with it. Nice and sharp with a good image design. Great background. Is their a raptor that is actually named a broad winged hawk? Or are people just lumping the group of broad wings together?

 

[David Salem]

Thanks everyone!

John,

Yes, there is such a bird named broad winged hawk. It is a medium size hawk that looks like a hybrid between a red tailed hawk and a red shouldered hawk.
The broad wings belong to the genus buteo

Thanks for the comment.

 

[Tim Foltz]

Dave, another nice peregrine shot, nice HA, BG and details.

-Tim

 

[Jonathan Ashton]

Top gun! Love the pose - the upturned right wing and the slightly turned head, lovely details, a very impressive image indeed.

 

[gail bisson]

I am late to the party but agree with all the kudos above!
gail

 

[arash_hazeghi]

nice one Dave, locking against this BG is tough. If mine I'd bump up the contrast a tad

glad you got these and probably better ones last season

 

[David Salem]

Thanks so much everyone!!
I appreciate the nice comments.

 

[David Salem]

nice one Dave, locking against this BG is tough. If mine I'd bump up the contrast a tad

glad you got these and probably better ones last season

Thanks Arash,

I know what you mean, looks a hare washed but I did quite a few versions of this one and adding any more contrast made the face and mallar stripe to dark.

Thanks again