Malachite kingfisher

[Deborah Harrison]

I've tried several times to photograph this bird unfortunately it always hides behind the reeds and tends to be incredibly skittish. Taken in the Okavango Delta
Canon EOS Mark3
300m f4
1/500 @ f8
-1/3 EV
Handheld while on a small boat

All critiques and suggestions welcomed.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Nice colours Deb. The only thing I would do is to make a new beak where the reed intersects it.

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Deborah,
I like the capture, the color rendition on the bird is good, with sharp details and definition in the feathers...a few points to consider...your head angle is off, you need to adjust .50 degrees CCW, the bill is obstructed by the reed that needs to be cloned out and reconstructed, I would recommend on adding more canvas to the left side of the frame to give him more room for the bill; and crop 1/4 from the right side of the frame. In addition, the eye is a tad on the soft side and merits a sprinkle of selective sharpening...looking forward to your next one...:cool:

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Deborah

Agree with suggestions !! For this you might try doing some heavy duty PS work !! Might be worth it. Normally I don't like going into heavy PS but with birds like this one difficult and so beautiful .... exception !!! The trick is making it natural ... not an easy task !!

[Deborah Harrison]

Thanks for the comments - since discovering this community I'm learning so much and you're really helping me look at my photos more critically. The angle of the head is an aspect of bird photography I've never really thought about or worried about until now, obviously I need to work harder at the capture as well as spend some serious time developing more of an expertise with Photoshop.

Again thanks, I really enjoy learning from everyone here.

[Lance Peters]

HI Debbie - it is a lovely bird and the colours are very good. AsGus mentioned the head angle is off - agrfee with the rest of the comments - will make good PS practise.

Keep them coming :)

[Lance Peters]

HI Debbie - it is a lovely bird and the colours are very good. AsGus mentioned the head angle is off - agrfee with the rest of the comments - will make good PS practise.

Keep them coming :(

[Deborah Harrison]

Gus,
See what you mean by the rotation of the head now I've tried it, may seem subtle but certainly makes a difference.
Thanks