Belted Kingfisher

[susanschermer]

There's a long story to this image Kingfishers are difficult to photograph in FL. This one stood still for a long time in very low light. Had to use a 2x on the 500 making it a 1/80 at f/8 exposure at ISO 1000. I flashed at 0 compensation. On High I get two images: one with flash and one without. I like to do that to compare results. I didn't love either, but I opened them both and adjusted them in Adobe camera RAW to come out to 2/3 stop difference. I then processed them with the Exposure Blend function in Photomatix Pro. I like the result. What do you think?

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I like it! It is interesting and I would think (not knowing the exact colors) that it is pretty spot on. :) I think that the edges on the perch in particular are very defined, almost too sharp. I would be inclined to fix the eye and correct that flash effect. :)

[Robert O'Toole]

Hi Susan,

Light looks nice and soft and the BG is nice and smooth. Very nice overall.

I agree with Akos. I would fis the flash eye, it is a bit distracting.

Robert

[Art Kornienko]

A very nice catch of a difficult bird to shoot, agree with Akos and about correcting the flash effect, seems to show as overexposure on the perch, lovely bg.

[Kris Mortensen]

How did you get him to sit still for so long? Where was the shot taken?