Red Kite

Don't judge the rating of this picture by the number of stars I gave it, I simply rank originality and vision lower simply because it is an eagle, and it's something I have seen numerous times.

That being said, I really dig this picture. For one, the bird is posed perfectly, nice side/front profile going on so you see all the important parts, which is tough to show when you are shooting underneath.

Another thing that I am impressed by is the lighting, I personally find shooting birds above extremely hard since the bright sky always creates a dark silhouette of the subject, and no detail can be seen, here you have overcome that and done it very well, and the sky is not overexposed either.

Overall, I think this is a very well done photograph, it's taken with amazing technique, and a really great and clearly successful attempt at photographing this subject for your first time.

Bravo and keep up the great work!!