Peregrine With Prey

Nikon D4
600mm lens with 1.7 extender
1/5000 sec
F6.7 (Wide open with extender)
ISO 1600
White Balance Auto
Manual Mode
Metering: Center weighted avg
Taken 5/25/13
Tripod with Wimberly head
Cropped 66%
Location: Southern California Coast

It's been over a year since I posted here. Very sorry for my lengthy absence. My wife has been going through cancer treatments for 3 years and is finally done with the most grueling part of the therapy. Our 3 children are now in high school or beyond which leaves time for me to get back into posting and picture taking.


The reason I chose this image after a year of absence is because I was thinking today that I need to make my way back to the cliff tops to try and get the peregrines mating. No other reason. Should be happening as we speak.
So, last year I was fortunate enough to find and shoot a pair of Peregrine Falcons with 4 chicks on a So. California cliff face (not San Diego). I shot this pair for about 3-4 months and luckily came away with some decent images that I'd like to share with you all.
This is a male peregrine falcon coming back to the cliff to mantle his prey before taking it back to the nest for the 4 youngsters about 100 feet below me and completely out of sight. This was one of three or four landing locations where the male frequently brought back prey.
What makes this location tough to shoot is the near constant overcast conditions (the sun almost never comes out til the afternoon) and the near vertical cliff face you must climb down on to shoot from. When the parents come back with prey they tend to fly right along the cliff face, out of sight, and appear out of nowhere giving you almost no time to compose and shoot. They are also traveling at a fast rate of speed. The 1.7 converter I was using sure didn't help matters. The background is the Pacific Ocean, a combination of white water waves crashing against rocks mixed with some turquoise calm spots. Unfortunately, this image was underexposed by more than a full stop (Photographer error) and had to be lightened dramatically. It certainly isn't tack sharp but getting tack sharp images of a peregrine is tough even in the best of circumstances so I'll take this.
Hopefully I will be posting regularly again and I'll be commenting a couple nights per week.
I've notice many new names. That's exciting to me. Looking forward to hearing from lots of you and seeing your images as well. I apologize for the book but I typically write a story for each image posted. Gives it more meaning. Please feel free to comment, good or bad. That's how I learned to shoot.