The Red Kite (Rød Glente) is probably one of the most magnificent predatory birds to be found in Denmark.
This is a shy bird to approach which often hangs gliding way out of reach of most contemporary zoom lenses. However in the harvest season when the tractors stir up critters in the hay this is a good time to try your luck, as they often come down looking for prey.
These images where taken while driving around at random, looking for places where the farmers where active in the fields. I spotted this pair being very active around a field that was being worked. I stopped and asked if it would be alright for me to walk on to the field to photograph the birds. As is so often the case, if one asks nicely most people will not object 🙂
Photographers Tip:
Predatory birds like kites, eagles, vultures, buzzards and similar often glides at a fairly high altitude. Mostly this means you will have a big contrast between the sky and the subject in anything but the most dreary days. I get the best results in these circumstances by using Center-Weighted Exposure with an Exposure Compensation of -1 to -2 EV. For most cameras this means you need to keep the subject at the center of the frame to get the exposure right. It’s a balance between getting enough color information and brightness of the shadow side of the bird while not blowing out the background completely.
Leave a Reply