Malachite Kingfisher

[Chris van Rooyen]

I photographed this kingfisher two years ago in the Kruger National Park from my vehicle. It was sitting in the shade of the bridge that I was parked on. About a 20% crop.

Camera Model: NIKON D5
Shutter speed: 1/2500 sec
Aperture: 7.1
Exposure compensation: +1/3
ISO: 6400

Processed in LR & PSCC

[dankearl]

Colors are great... comp is nice, well done.

[Chris van Rooyen]

Thanks Dan, I appreciate the comments!

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Chris ... a very nice KF image with a gorgeous backdrop and a very well fitting perch !!
You seem to like like colorful images :bg3: , me too at times .
In this case i might try to temper them slightly ... not global selectively is the key IMHO.
Burning the the BG would make the subject pop even more as an alternative . But would try to get more density into the perch

TFS Andreas

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Chris, these are great little birds, but with no significant details to determine M/F, certainly they are much smaller than the ones we have over here.

Agree with Andreas, but also if it was shot in the shade, I might slightly temper the brightness. Like the overall simplicity of the shot and the elegant perch.

TFS
Steve

[Chris van Rooyen]

Thanks Steve and Andreas for the constructive comments. A question: What should be the standard for colours? Totally natural, even if the light was dull? I'm interested to know what should be the ideal to strive for - always as close as possible to the actual scene? How much licence is acceptable?

[Ian McLachlan]

When I first looked at this a few hours ago I was going to ask you whether you thought this was a young bird because of the slight lack of blues and the light fawn on the flanks and it looked as though some more colour was may be to appear or maybe it was in their eclipse time of the year,
.Then I see you have asked about the colour standard. You are an expert on the variations you can get on this beautiful bird and the birds of Southern Africain general and Arthur M said the other day that you/we should also be artists .So when I wake up tomorrow I hope to see what Steve has to say, and whether you think you could enhance it anyway. Beautiful frame of one of Africa Jewels.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Thanks Steve and Andreas for the constructive comments. A question: What should be the standard for colours? Totally natural, even if the light was dull? I'm interested to know what should be the ideal to strive for - always as close as possible to the actual scene? How much licence is acceptable?

Hi Chris ... at least to me there is no such " Standard " , always matter of taste of photographer and viewer ... some like it more some like it less . And it varies with every image , IMHO . We all have different views what is " ideal " ... some might even like strong color casts ,depending on the shot and the photographers taste .
Hope this explains my view about that

Cheers Andreas

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Chris,

Firstly a 'curved ball' - My initial feeling is if your screen is calibrated and done monthly, then the brightness is a bit high, you can drop the candelas, but find our first what the monitor advises, if say it's a 100 perhaps 90 might be better, as most of your image carry little amounts of detail in the whites.


What should be the standard for colours?

You are shooting in Adobe RGB on your camera, your PP is through Adobe RGB or ProPhoto RGB at 16 bit, this to me is your 'standard' and first base.

You then have to interrupt what or how the capture should look, but not all subjects are Walt Disney in appearance, so implementation of things like saturation need to be handled with a light hand and is it Global or Selective areas you are addressing? Again global is with the raw converter, Selective is via PS.

- If you check the whites they carry more blue so WB is slightly out
- The darker blue appears to be more towards a purple blue, from memory it's more blue, but this can vary
- Beak HL's need toning back so any shadow creates form and detail, red looks a bit pushed loosing detail
- Perch yes you can get a sliver more from the LHS
- Not crucial, but the areas with a more darker contrast can be reduced so the BKG has a slight/more 'even' feel/look
- Try to avoid big crops to retain IQ

All very minor, but some have greater impact.
Chris this is a lot to take in, but as you asked this is just my take, just trying to add some thinking input. :wave:

[Chris van Rooyen]

Hi Andreas and Steve

I appreciate the detailed feedback - this makes this forum so great. Thanks for that!

I think my screen needs some calibration, I haven't calibrated it for months (shame)

I like Ian's point about our photography being an art form, so there will always be a measure of subjectivity (beauty is in the eye of the beholder), my concern is that sometime we may end up not seeing the wood (art) for the trees by getting so mired in the technical details that we end up missing the overall impact of an image. If an image speaks to my soul (so to speak) I'm less inclined to be distracted by minor technical nits. But that is just me, and it is highly subjective, I cannot speak for everyone. Of course, there are limits to licence, as Steve correctly points out, not all subjects are Disney in appearance. Saying more with less is probably the better principle to follow. Steve, thanks for the detailed analysis of the colours lots to take in there (plse help me what does LHS stands for?).

Looking forward to some more thought provoking exchanges

[Chris van Rooyen]

Thanks Ian, interesting viewpoint and I agree that we are first and foremost artists.

[Steve Kaluski]

think my screen needs some calibration, I haven't calibrated it for months

Chris you need to do this monthly or when the software tells you too. Never do it first thing, let the computer & screen warm up, set it to run, have a cup of Java sit back and let it do its think, if its a desktop monitor it should only drift a few points if that and try not to have all the lights on and the monitor face hit by window light. If you DON'T calibrate you are wasting your time, once its done and correctly set ie Black point, candelas etc you are within reason on a level playing field. In addition, if you use PS make sure under Edit > Colour settings are set correctly too and NOT factory default.


(plse help me what does LHS stands for?)

Left hand side :S3:

[Chris van Rooyen]

Fantastic! thanks👍🙏

[Dorian Anderson]

Beautiful bird and composition. Love the open/negative space to the right. I agree about taming the glare on the perch, though that's pretty minor. I do think the whole frame looks a washed out or 'thin'; I might boost the darks a bit to add a bit of contrast/punch.

[Steve Kaluski]

I do think the whole frame looks a washed out or 'thin'; I might boost the darks a bit to add a bit of contrast/punch.

Dorian you need to get you monitor calibrated, you are not seeing what the rest of us are seeing. :S3:

[Daniel Cadieux]

For me, the KF looks very good - bright colours and all. The BG is nice overall as well, but some of the "neon" greens could be tamed a bit - but overall not much need to be tweaked IMO. Beautiful image!

[Dorian Anderson]

Dorian you need to get you monitor calibrated, you are not seeing what the rest of us are seeing. :S3:

1) When I say boost the darks, I mean a tweak of like 1 or 2%. So very, very subtle and 2) Now that I'm looking at the frame at night, my concern seems to have been minimized.

[Kurt Bowman]

Nice pose and head turn! Love the colors of this species. Never seen one live so I can't speak to what someone of the others are stating.