Prairie Falcon

Gallery: AvianPosted September 1, 2011148 views7 comments

Hi! My name is Marlise Launstein. I'm 11 years old and this is my first post to the Avian Gallery. I'm Jenaya's sister and am really happy to be on NPN now!

I took this picture while on a trip with my dad to Saskatchewan. We saw lots of owls on the way so I'll be posting some of those pictures soon! We decided to take some dirt roads coming back instead of the highway, and started seeing a lot of hawks and falcons. Suddenly my dad whipped over and pointed to the ground at this falcon who had just caught a ground squirrel!

Our deal was anything on his side of the road he got to take pictures of, and anything on my side meant I got to. I was lucky to have this one on my side and grabbed his camera and did my best to find the falcon quickly and get some pictures. Unfortunately most of the pictures of him sitting with his prize in the grass are a little out of focus, but my dad told me if he flew to just squeeze the shutter and try and follow him and it worked!

I wish he was flying toward me or that you could see more of his face, but I still really like this picture.

Thanks for letting me be part of NPN! I'll probably be posting mostly in this gallery because birds are my favourite things to photograph!

Nikon D7000
Nikkor AF-S 300mm f/4 with 1.4 TC
ISO 200
1/2000sec @ f/5.6
handheld
cropped to about 35% of original

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on September 1, 2011 at 8:49 AM

Hi Marlise: A huge welcome to NPN!! We're glad that we'll have the chance to see more of your work. You did a great job getting this flying raptor in the frame and creating a nice sharp image. Getting it against a background like this is really tough. Great Work. I too wish it was flying toward the camera like you said, but you still managed to capture a fine image. Looking forward to seeing more of your work. I also look forward to seeing your comments on other images. Thanks for posting and another big Welcome

Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments

Comment posted by David Haynes on September 1, 2011 at 12:03 PM

Hi Marlise,
Welcome aboard. You definitely got the Photography genetics. Your dad and your sister are great contributors. 11 years old and grabbing a shot like this makes my jaw drop Marlise. Yes, I wish it was coming towards us instead of away from us but to get focus with such a busy background is very impressive and one of the most difficult types of image to shoot and you nailed this. Extremely sharp focus. I think you have found your calling. Can't wait to see some of your owl images from the trip. Keep up the great work. Being able to shoot with your dad and your sister must really make the experience a lot of fun. Good luck!!

Registered on February 20, 2010, 110 Posts, 1511 Comments

Comment posted by KC Choo on September 1, 2011 at 6:29 PM

A warm welcome to NPN! Getting the subject in focus with such a busy BG is not easy, so well done on this score. As the others have remarked, it's best to have the bird fly to you and never past for the best flight captures. However, getting this with prey is excellent.

Registered on November 15, 2004, 519 Posts, 8278 Comments

Comment posted by Marlise Launstein on September 2, 2011 at 6:43 PM

Thank you for all your nice comments! I wish he flew toward us but when he took off with the ground squirrel he flew away from us so I only got a few pictures like this.

Registered on August 31, 2011, 28 Posts, 175 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on September 3, 2011 at 12:21 AM

Welcome Marlise, nice job getting this in focus, it must have been exciting to see this Prairie Falcon carrying off a ground squirrel, nice job and I'm looking forward to seeing more of your work.

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Marlise Launstein on September 5, 2011 at 12:26 AM

Thanks for the comments!

Registered on August 31, 2011, 28 Posts, 175 Comments

Comment posted by Ashley Vincent on September 16, 2011 at 5:28 AM

Hi Marlise,

Real pleased to find you here on the NPN, now I can enjoy looking at even more masterpieces from the Launstein family :^)

Seriously, your dad has spoken highly of you in the past and I'm already a great admirer of his work as well as Jenaya's, so I'm delighted to see some of yours too and watch your progress over the coming weeks, months and hopefully years ahead.

As to this image, I was happy enough seeing good composition and what appears to be sharp focus on the bird. I was just about to click on the larger version when my (13-year old) daughter came in (just back from school) and immediately said "Wow! What's that furry thing between it's leg?!?!" Believe it or not, I hadn't even noticed they prey caught in the talons, now that I have seen it in large, and also see the bird's eye just peaking over it's wing, with a catchlight no less, I'm crazy about this one!!! Extremely well done and thoroughly enjoyable to look at, many thanks for sharing :^)

I'll look through the others you've posted up, but first it's time for our dinner. Before I go though, a belated yet very warm welcome to the NPN :^)

Registered on March 1, 2011, 154 Posts, 2083 Comments