Black and White - Take off

[Stu Bowie]

I havent posted a Pied Kingfisher take off for a while. One is never guaranteed in which direction they will actually leave the perch, even though they are facing a certain direction. This guy just dropped straight down. The BG is a distant mountain.

Canon 50D
100-400 @ 350mm
1/2500
F/6.3
ISO 500

Manual Exposure
Hand held

[dankearl]

Pretty cool comp, Stuart.
Nice dive and the usual gorgeous BG.

[Ofer Levy]

Nice dynamic pose and sweet BG. I am not sure about the added catchlight as presented - doesn't look right to me.

[christopher galeski]

nice take off pose,BG magic,nice light.thanks.

[Craig Kerr]

Great pose from your bird Stuart... Excellent detail and love that glorious background

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Stuart - Nicely exposed, great pose, comp and bg.

TFS,
Rachel

[Grace Scalzo]

Great bird, action, and background. I see some artifacts around the beak.

[Stu Bowie]

I am not sure about the added catchlight as presented - doesn't look right to me.

Thanks Ofer. I havent added any catchlight, as can be seen in the untouched crop. All I did was sharpen it.

Thanks to everyone else for your feedback too.

[Marina Scarr]

Cool pose, lovely BG and I like the fact you can see the perch. While the catchlight may not have been added, in your OP it looks quite prominent. Maybe you could sharpen it a tad less.

[Satish Ranadive]

As usual magnificent image with great details in blacks and whites of handsome bird.
Space below gives nice feel of his dive.Superb pose,nice lights and BG.Love every thing in the frame.
Regards.

[Ken Watkins]

Stuart,
Got to love these birds always doing something interesting, this is certainly a great pose B G to die for

[Bill Dix]

You need a quick trigger finger to catch these guys at the instant of takeoff. Perfect dive pose, and great bg. I like the slightly unusual comp complete with diving room.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Well caught that man!! Hey Stu great pose and exposure, the bird is pinsharp - as noted in your second post, however (now this may just be me green with envy) when I look at the bill I seem to be seeing a saw toothed edge to it, it looks looks a just a little bumpy on the crown of the head - not sure but is it possibly sharpening artefact?? Nobody else appears to have commented so sorry if I am raising a red herring!!:S3:

[Vivaldo Damilano]

Great shot Stu, love the takeoff pose and lifted wing. The BG is awesome, must be Mankwe TFS.

[Grace Scalzo]

Jonathan...see my post. I noted the beak as well. It clearly is perfect in Stuart's capture, so probably is a result of either sharpening or downsizing for web.

[Markus Jais]

Caught in the perfect moment. Great action shot, wonderful BG.

Markus

[Arno Ellmer]

Classic take-off Stu ! Great shot ! All has been said . Very interesting how this catchlight becomes so prominent after sharpening.

[Ofer Levy]

Thanks Ofer. I havent added any catchlight, as can be seen in the untouched crop. All I did was sharpen it.

Thanks to everyone else for your feedback too.
Hi Stuart, not that it's a big drama but there is NO WAY you could get the catchlight in the original post from the version you sent just by sharpening it. There is nothing wrong in adding a catchlight, I do it when needed, but it has to be done properly and it's not that simple as we can see in this case.

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks a stack for the feedback everyone.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

cool take off pose super sharp and nice clean bg