African pygmy kingfisher

[Elmar Venter]

This beauty was so kind to pose today. All comments welcome!

Canon EOS 50D
400 mm f5.6 lens
f 5.6
1/320

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Head angle, sharpness and soft light look very good. There is a bit too much negative space on the right side for my taste. I would either put the bird a little further to the right or crop some off the right.

[Danny J Brown]

Beautiful little bird, Elmar. I looks so tiny here. Always nice to find an agreeable kingfisher! I agree with Axel about removing some space on the right.

[Arthur Morris]

Love the bird, the colors, the head angle and pose, and the SH. I'd be fine with taking some off the right or some off the top for more of a pano as I did :) Also cleaned up the ulc.

[Arthur Morris]

ps: Forgot to mention: used divide and conquer cloning and a series of QMs as per Digital Basics and APTATS I.

[Chris van Rooyen]

Great capture Elmar, where did you get this beauty? I might be wrong but the yellow seems to be a bit too saturated for this species? Wonderful opportunity, you must be thrilled:)

[Rob Drummond]

Wonderful shot Elmar - like your original comp as it emphasises the diminutive nature of this species.

cheers
Rob

[Nevil Lazarus]

Elmar, this is a difficult bird to see and photograph, and you have done VERY well. I like the sharpness and the eye contact, and the lilac in the background complements the image. I agree with Rob re original presentation -- it is a real small bird!!

[Kurt Bowman]

Beautiful colors in this shot. I agree about the crop on the top and right for my tastes.

[Harshad Barve]

Such a beautiful bird this is , lovely pose and repost takes this over the top
TFS

[Elmar Venter]

Thanks for all the comments!

Artie: Thanks for the repost. Once again my post processing skills are letting me down. Seems like Elements doesn't have the patch tool or quick masks. Will try and see whether I can do something similar.

Chris: Thanks for your kind comments. I took this picture on the Sontuli loop in the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park. I agree I have gone too far on the saturation of the yellows.

[Elmar Venter]

In this repost I toned down the saturation of the yellows of the bird. I also did an attempt at removing some of the distracting background. I used a combination of the clone and healing brush tool in Elements. All comments on the repost will be appreciated.

[Arthur Morris]

You did quite well on the repost. You can use a large, 70% opacity Clone Stamp Tool to eliminate or reduce the big specular highlight top center.

[Elmar Venter]

Thanks Artie for the feedback! Repost as suggested.

[Arthur Morris]

Good job. Much better without it.

[Elmar Venter]

Artie, I have one more question. This is the most that I have ever changed the original image - taking out the branches. Is adjustments like these "generally accepted" or is it extreme digital manipulation?

[Ken Watkins]

What a remarkably good shot of this really minute bird.
The final repost is the best, the second seemed to have some strange effect on the bill.
Not wishing to step on Arties toes but to me the removal of the branches in the ULC is entirely acceptable to me and certainly not "extreme"

[Arthur Morris]

Artie, I have one more question. This is the most that I have ever changed the original image - taking out the branches. Is adjustments like these "generally accepted" or is it extreme digital manipulation?

Photography is what you want it to be so that decision is personal. I choose to take full advantage of modern technology and let folks know what I have done. That includes folks on BPN, folks who read my Bulletins and Blog, and Photo Editors. If you enter any images in contests, you need to carefully read the rules and abide by them.