Kingfisher Buddy

[Wayne Niz]

My little buddy came to visit again the other day, tried a bit of flash to combat the harsh light
R5
600 f4 ii
TC 1.4 iii
1/6400
f 7.1
iso 1600
Godox AD200Pro
DXO raw Topaz Sharpen LRC191503

[Randy Stout]

Wayne:

He is a cutie. Always amazed at their tiny feet. The flash has helped soften the shadows. I would probably remove the second catch light from the flash. Might also remove the small white bit on the upper mandible.

Quite a large perch for his size, but the various tones and textures help.

Cheers

Randy

PS: Kingfishers are one of my nemesis birds! See them freq. on the lakes, just can't get close enough to capture them!

[Brian Sump]

Wayne, where are you located? Which subspecies?

Sweet pose and nicely sharp. I like the frame considering the lighting. Flash seems to have helped but we'd probably all agree natural light is best when possible.

The different tones in the bkg add a little. I like the perch for the most part but would probably clone the poo on the left and second catchlight.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Wayne, not sure why you needed 1/6400 SS, seems a little excessive unless you we capturing it when diving?

At ISO 1600 I don't think it was too dark, but the Darks/Contrast have added a little crunchy look, as so when you strip things back, the branch appears sharper than the head? May be a bit more DoF? Are you using Animal eye detect or here did you choose another AF method? I might just crop off a little from the LHS to remove the pooh and if you have it a bit more air under the branch would be nice.

TFS
Steve

[Wayne Niz]

Wayne:

He is a cutie. Always amazed at their tiny feet. The flash has helped soften the shadows. I would probably remove the second catch light from the flash. Might also remove the small white bit on the upper mandible.

Quite a large perch for his size, but the various tones and textures help.

Cheers

Randy

PS: Kingfishers are one of my nemesis birds! See them freq. on the lakes, just can't get close enough to capture them!
Hey Randy
Thanks for your comments, i will look at the second catchlight tx. I am really lucky to have this little visit me as often as he does in my garden, i really love their cartoon like proportions

cheers

[Wayne Niz]

Wayne, where are you located? Which subspecies?

Sweet pose and nicely sharp. I like the frame considering the lighting. Flash seems to have helped but we'd probably all agree natural light is best when possible.

The different tones in the bkg add a little. I like the perch for the most part but would probably clone the poo on the left and second catchlight.

Hey Brian,
It is a brown hooded kingfisher and it was shot in my garden in Durban, South Africa. I agree natural light always best but pic was taken at almost midday and without flash would probably have been unusable

Thanks for your comments

cheers

[Kurt Bowman]

Nice use of flash here Wayne. I agree with the need based on the time of day you were shooting. I wish it were a tad bit more left in the frame, but still a very nice image!

[Wayne Niz]

Hi Wayne, not sure why you needed 1/6400 SS, seems a little excessive unless you we capturing it when diving?

At ISO 1600 I don't think it was too dark, but the Darks/Contrast have added a little crunchy look, as so when you strip things back, the branch appears sharper than the head? May be a bit more DoF? Are you using Animal eye detect or here did you choose another AF method? I might just crop off a little from the LHS to remove the pooh and if you have it a bit more air under the branch would be nice.

TFS
Steve
Hey Steve

Thanks again for your advice, on point as always. The reason I was on 6400 SS was that i was hoping to catch him launching off the branch and could have done with more DoF. Will repost with changes as suggested.

Thanks again

[Wayne Niz]

Repost with changes
191513

[Wayne Niz]

This is 100% crop of the head191514

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Wayne, the RP IMHO is certainly going in the right direction and fine with the explanation re SS.

The Whites are a tad on the hot side, you could tame them with a small adjustment.

Jury is still out for me, Animal eye detection or manual with the AF, as I do find the eye a bit sharper with more detail with the 1DX MK3, but that might be the sensor?

If He/She is becoming more of a local, be there but don't shoot, get them to accept you and every now and then move a seat a tad closer say 1-2 metres every other day. After say 5 days you don't need such a focal length and your presence won't bother them. It's just a little every day and ultimately the subject does not get stressed and are relaxed. Then you will get the brest from them.

[Bill Dix]

Lovely little KF, with those tiny feet. Good flash work. If he is a regular visitor you might consider putting up a smaller perch for him. I like the RP.

[dankearl]

Brilliant use of flash in bad light to make look good, I would not have known.
Perch is large but bird looks great. Your techs are fine... who cares what the SS is if it it works..

[Wayne Niz]

Then Steve breaks my heart with his edit of the OP. What can I say other than this proves that the editing is as important as the picture, without these skills advancement in my bird photography is not going to happen. Im officially on a mission...191535

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Wayne, thank you for the kind words.

Photography & PP work hand in glove, it’s a marriage. I will stress that grasping the basics is the bedrock, both in Photography & in PP, but the key in my book is keeping everything simple, from cradle to grave, so execution of the capture and simple processing is paramount.

However, the main thing is having fun in doing what you do and turning the negatives into positives and learning from them.

We can talk further, but let’s get the basics under your belt and learn to walk before you can run. :w3