Belted Kingfisher With Her Catch

[Melissa Groo]

Canon 1D4
700mm
Handheld

ISO 800
1/2500 sec
f/5.6

Taken a month or so ago at the foot of our local lake. I was prowling around on the shoreline and found a kingfisher who kept returning to a particular perch just a few yards offshore, a dead snag. (This is a female, as it has the rufous band on the belly). I sat on the beach among some weeds and tried to be unobtrusive, and managed to capture her returning to the perch with fish. The light angle was a bit tough--and the light was pretty harsh-- but this was the closest I've been to one so I thought it was worth working on. I tried to tame the whites quite a bit. Would love to know what else I can do to improve this.
I have other frames where the head angle is perhaps more ideal but I liked the full view of the fish here.
Thanks for looking. All comments and critiques greatly appreciated.

[Karl Egressy]

The anled perch looks god and the bird with the fish looks excellent.
Great to have the fish turned the way it is as you can see the eye.
Nice eye contact with the Kingfisher and great feather details.
Great job overall, Melissa.

[gareth thomson]

Hi - I think it's a great shot. I snagged your image and tried various other crops, including a vertical. I didn't see any reason for change. I can't comment on the whites. Others w/ more experience will likely chime in. Bird looks happy; you should be too.

[Ian Cassell]

Oh, Melissa, I'm so jealous! I have been trying for ages, without success, to get a decent Belted Kingfisher image and I think you have not only nailed the techs, but the composition is wonderful and the fish is a bonus. Great job!

[nrohrbacker]

She looks likes she's showing off her prize. Great detail and facing you which is great. These little guys are tough, so you made the most out of a fortunate situation. Very nice shot.

[arash_hazeghi]

sweet shot Melissa! love the details and the fish!

[dankearl]

I would love to have this photo, I can never get a decent shot.
Congrats on a very fine image. A very difficult bird to even get close to for me.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Melissa, well exposed, and I like the various colours on her. Lovely neat and thin perch, and a good view of her catch too. Great BG. Im at the office, so cant play with the crop, but I feel a vertical could work. The next challenge would be to capture an incoming perching shot, but they never seem to perch in the same place, especially if there is a long perch as this, she could perch anywhere.

[Satish Ranadive]

Melissa,
Gorgeous image.Love the pose of beautiful bird with lovely fish,great details,colors,lights and background.

Regards,
Satish.

[gail bisson]

This is great Melissa.
This bird is one of my nemesis birds and I am sooo jealous!
You seized the opportunity and created a terrific image.
I like your composition-tricky one with the diagonal branch and the KF looking to the left.
Excellent IQ and super BG.
Gail

[Daniel Cadieux]

Lots of rufous on the top band too, I'd say this is a juvenile female. I like the image as is for the details, exposure, comp...and especially the fish.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

You are just rockin these images girl. I can't even begin to come up on one of these scaredy cats...er birds. :) Love the angle of the fish too.

[Ivan Ellison]

really nice Melissa, love the perch and the fish in full view. All the detail is showing well in the subject. presuming they are as quick as our kingfisher you dont have long to get your shots off. well done.

[Robert Holguin]

Sweet shot. Excellent eye contact on both the fish and the bird. Great perch, great background, and terrific details.
Well done.

[Frank Schauf]

Very nice pose and colours.

[Nico Steenberg]

Well exposed and the bg is a killer, catch adds to the IMG and the soft colors are great !