Young Kingfisher

[Pepe Reigada]

This morning, in the mountains near to my city, Códoba, Spain
D300 * 200-400f4 * tripod * blind * S:1/800 * A:7,1 * ISO:200 * EV:-1 * natural light * full frame*

[Doug Brown]

Nice job with the composition in this full frame image. It's always best to compose in camera. The eye is sharp and I like the pose and BG. Would have liked a little more DOF, but that's about it. Thanks for posting!

[carole wiley]

I like this alot. the little fellow looks pretty proud of himself! Beautiful light and bg to compliment the colors in the bird.

[Maxis Gamez]

This is very nice and so is the pose. I think the colors are little off and I have to agree with Doug about the DOF but I actually like it!!

[Arthur Morris]

Wow Pepe! This is pretty close to a perfect ten in my book. Sharp, lovely soft light, a killer BKGR, and an interesting pose. Do you know what he was looking at? A second glance suggests that it might benefit from a bit of CW rotation...

Maxis, how can you suggest that the colors are off if you have never seen this species? (Do correct me if I am wrong).

[Maxis Gamez]

Wow Pepe! This is pretty close to a perfect ten in my book. Sharp, lovely soft light, a killer BKGR, and an interesting pose. Do you know what he was looking at? A second glance suggests that it might benefit from a bit of CW rotation...

Maxis, how can you suggest that the colors are off if you have never seen this species? (Do correct me if I am wrong).

I have a bird book.

[Maxis Gamez]

http://www.********.org/bpn/Martin-Pescador-5546.jpg

Something like this is what my book shows....I also did a little more sharpening and removed the noise in the BG, but what do I know...

[Harold Davis]

i think the original is more artful!! nice light and all. just my .02.

[Pepe Reigada]

This is very nice and so is the pose. I think the colors are little off and I have to agree with Doug about the DOF but I actually like it!!
The color of the young is a bit different and it changes with the light

[Maxis Gamez]

Just a suggestion folks.

[Kaushik Balakumar]

Lovely pose. Nice eye contact. Will agree with Artie for a slight CW rotation.
Like Maxis, I too feel that in the original post, there's slight colour cast (sort of yellowish) - but am just saying that by looking at the overall image & am no bird expert. Perhaps, the original post is how the bird is in real - I have no idea.

[Ramon M. Casares]

I love the pose, the light and the sharpness, too bad the feet and erch are not in focus, a bit more DOF would've been great! Terrific image still! Congratulations!

[Matias Romano]

The pose is surely amazing. Thelight is perfect too, I agree with a little more DOF so as to get better sharpness on the feet and the perch.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Cool pose, details and BG. Wider DOF has been mentioned. Thanks for sharing!

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

This is a ten out of ten in my book as far as the bird is concerned. Nice to see a different pose than the standard kingfisher on a perch look. I am surprised that no one commented on the perch itself. Yuck. Sorry, I don't like it. I think the brightness od it overpowers the beauty of the kingfisher. (I did read ABPII - available on CD only ;) )

You should be able to reshoot from your hide with a nicer perch. :)

EDIT:

I did move my rather moon-shaped head around the screen to get a different angle on the perch and from some angles it does not look so bright. But I think you could probably set up a nicer one. :) Like Jeroen Stel's images I have seen recently.

[Grady Weed]

I like the bird as is, not the perch. Considering all things, high marks here for what you got.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Stunning image Pepe. Love the pose and the BG as well as the wonderful lighting. Just gorgeous !!!!

[Juan Aragonés]

Hey Pepe thi one is fantastic. Love the unusual pose of the bird facing towards the sky and the nice reddish light but I do not like the perch. The colors looks fine to me, maybe just a little bit overcasted but I think that this is due to the reddish light of the rising sun but that is exactly how the light is early in the morning. The eye details are too good to be true. Congratulations for this excelent image