Indigo-banded Kingfisher in low light

[Romy Ocon]

Here's sharing a recent capture of a female Indigo-banded Kingfisher (Alcedo cyanopecta), an uncommon Philippine endemic. I had to use a slow shutter speed to expose it well in dim available light in the understory.

Habitat - Uncommon, restricted to clear fresh water streams up to at least 1500 m.

Range - Luzon and some islands in mid-Philippines.
Size - 141 mm total length

40D + 500 f4 IS + 1.4x TC, 1/8 sec, ISO 400, f/5.6, manual exposure in available light, 475B/3421 support, remote switch, Live View,
Tiaong, Quezon province, Philippines, April 19, 2008

Regards,

Romy

[Fabs Forns]

What a bird, and quite interesting toes, at that.
Thanks for sharing this, Romy :)

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Romy, Stunning bird, stunning colors, and stunningly sharp. I cropped a bit from the bottom as the perch was over-powering the bird and then toned down the whites in the perch a bit.

Did you use live view hooked up to your laptop???

[Romy Ocon]

Hi Romy, Stunning bird, stunning colors, and stunningly sharp. I cropped a bit from the bottom as the perch was over-powering the bird and then toned down the whites in the perch a bit.

Did you use live view hooked up to your laptop???


Thanks, Artie... agree with the improvements! :)

I use Live View (not tethered to a laptop) in this situation for the following reasons:

1. Emulate MLU to reduce camera shake, using a remote switch and IS off.

2. Monitor the bird's behaviour... I trip the shutter when it stops moving and the pose is promising.


Romy

[Dave Phillips]

another nice( awesome) image Romy......color sat is quite enhancing.
strange toes as Fabs noted

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Romy, I am still a little bit confused. Is the mirror up when you use live view? Are you in a blind while you are doing this?

[Romy Ocon]

Thanks Romy, I am still a little bit confused. Is the mirror up when you use live view? Are you in a blind while you are doing this?

Yes, Artie.... the mirror goes up during Live View operation. Once the whole rig settles down, the only impetus for potential camera shake is the opening and closing of the very light shutter blades. This is of course assuming there's little or no wind, which was the case in this shot. For very still birds (like hunting herons and KFs), I've shot as slow 0.8 sec with sharp results.

This particular bird is somewhat tamer than most I've encountered, as it was ranging near a nature resort and thus probably used to seeing people. I approached it by fording the almost knee-deep stream, with the camera supported by a Manfrotto 475B tripod/3421 gimbal head. I started shooting from afar and slowly inched my way to within 30 - 35 feet. :)

Romy

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks mate. Pretty frigggin' amazing. I am doing a 40D video for the Canon USA web site this week and the info that you provided will help me with that.