Kingfisher with Prey

[Tony House]

I worked on a pair of Kingfishers for several months in between going to work, something always gets in the way of your hobby :( .. This image was taken on a cloudy wet day which seemed to be the norm when I wasn't working.

The perch was placed by me and the area baited with trout pellets to attract the fish. The B/G is a distant reed bed and shooting was from a hide that I left in place for the 2+ months I worked on this bird.

Techs: 1/160 @ F9 EC -1 ISO 250
1DMK11 N 500F4 + 1.4XTC Tripod with Gimbal head.

Thanks for looking.
Tony

[Raul Quinones]

Very nice details on subject and prey. Nice to see the position of the prey and the "spear" going thru the body. I like also the water drop in the chest of the bird. Great picture.
Thanks for the background info, nice to known that this picture is the result of careful planning and hard work.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Thanks for the info (and honesty) about your planning this image. I really like the comp, and the fact the fish is facing us. I'm sure a bit better head turn would have put this over the top! I would suggest lightening the reflection in the eye to give it more life, and toning down the fish's face. Otherwise big kudos form me! :-)

[Tony House]

Thanks for the kind comments. My processing skills unfortunately are very limited to levels, clone out some dust spots and sharpening, that's about it. Maybe I need to buy Arthur's bird photography CD, if it covers this sort of thing that is....

Many thanks for the comments.
Tony

[Arthur Morris]

Either the CD, Digital Basics, or both. Followed up by APTATS. Here a QM to selectively sharpen and then to lighten the eye and face would be in order. And another to do a Linear Burn on the highlights of the fish (if they are not overexposed). But for the lower stub, a nice perch. Great bird and nice that we see the eye of the fish.

[Leroy Laverman]

Nice when your hard work pays off so well. The background compliments the bird well. The colors really pop.

[Glenn Bartley]

Nicely done! I think a bit of fill flash would really have helped this image.

[Mike Lentz]

Fabulous work here! The only thing I would do is lighten the top of the eye for the catch light effect. (Glenn was right on FF)

[Rene' Villela]

Your planning paid off! Congratulations! Now you can go back and enjoy your work! :)

[Doug Brown]

I enjoyed reading about how you planned this image. It looks really good too! I agree that fill flash would have helped bring out the plumage and the eye of the bird. Congrats on your creative vision and on a nice photo.

[Stu Bowie]

Amazingh colours captured here Tony, and nice and sharp. What a perfect BG too. Great image.

[Tony Whitehead]

Good capture, Tony. I agree a touch of flash would have been helpful but not sure how flash tolerant these kingfishers are. Artie's suggestions are good and the CD's great value. I'm curious about the apparent cobweb running from the brow to the base of the beak.

[Tony House]

Thanks for the kind comments everyone, never really tried fill flash although I've got a telephoto bracket and better beamer it's only ever been used once.

Hi Tony, I think your right about using the flash on Kingfisher although this bird over time became very tolerant of me, even landing on the end of my lens from time to time. I also had a problem with him spending more time on the top of the hide instead of the perch and you're right that is a cobweb, not sure where he picked it up though. At the time he was busy building nest chambers around the lake so it could have been picked up then. He would often turn up on the perch covered in clay from digging holes. :-)

Once again, many thanks for the comments.
Tony

[Nagesh Mula]

Very good capture and good to see that your hard work really paid off here.

[Dennis "Curly" Buchner]

Great detail and a great background I have belted kingfisher in my pond and it does take a while for them to get used to setups.

[John Ippolito]

Very nice composition, colors and BG are superb. Love the orange feet on the perch. As Artie mentioned, I think a bit of toning down the fish head and brightening the eye and face would really make this already excellent image pop.
BTW what is the species?

[Tony House]

Hi John, Kingfisher ( Alcedo Atthis ) widespread through the whole of Europe where it's called a common Kingfisher and can be found in certain places in the middle east too...

Tony

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks for the info Tony.