Black-capped King Fisher

[Thanaboon Jearkjirm]

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1439/5123667836_8fd899059e_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/36369721@N05/5123667836/)

D700
300mm f/2.8 VR II with TC-20E III
600mm
ISO 400
f/8 at 1/1250s
Manual mode
Matrix Metering
AF-C, Dynamic 9 points
Auto white balance
Tripod
Taken from a blind

Highlight/Shadow recovery, rotate CW, set white/black point, curve to lighten a bit, liner burn on some part, darken wings, add saturation and contrast a bit, crop and sharpen.

The light was a bit strong, but this is my first capture of the King Fisher in the wild so I'll share it. Lots of post processing, more than I would like. The halo around the bird probably came during highlight/shadow recovery. Hopefully I'll get to capture this again with softer light, with its beautiful back turning toward me on a more natural perch with beautiful background (lots on the wishing list :p)

All comments and suggestions are welcome.

[Rachel Hollander]

Like the catchlight and the detail on the chest. I agree with your self-critique.

TFS,
Rachel

[Julie Kenward]

Nice work on post-processing, Thanaboon. It's a lovely image of this bird as well, despite the manmade perch. You got excellent detail and the colors really pop.

I found myself wondering what a tighter vertical crop would do so I tried it out. I didn't like how the perch stopped mid-frame and the bird was darn near center. I offer this version as an alternative suggestion...

I also cloned out the knothole in the perch and lightened his eye a bit to give it a bit more detail.

[John Chardine]

I like both! Nice eye work Jules! Stunning colour in the image, and nice and sharp too.

[Thanaboon Jearkjirm]

Thank you for the re-post Julie, I like it better than the original.