Belted Kingfisher

[Alan Murphy]

Belted Kingfisher-female

Workshop: Roma,Rio-grande Valley, South Texas

D3, 600, ISO 1600, f4, 1/400, -0.7EV.

During our workshop, we photographed this Kingfisher every morning as he came to my set-up. This image was taken way before the sun came up and lit the scene. Thanks to the great ISO quality of the D3, I was able to get a decent image with the techs I had to work with. It was quite dark.

[Troy Lim]

Stunning shot as usual. Love it.

[Michael Wolf]

Simply Incredible!
I do believe without a doubt you are the Master of all set ups.

[Pieter de Waal]

Nice action image Allan, the water drops and fish tail add to the image and great exposure on the dark feathers.

[Leandro Herrainz]

Excellent image! great low noise at 1600, perch and BG really nice, sharpness and light to.

Leandro

[Grace Scalzo]

A true delight, Alan. Fun to see and to appreciate.

[Richard Stern]

A wonderful image, with great sharpness and detail, composition, the fish, and the water droplets. In addition, around here it's almost impossible to get that close to a Belted kingfisher as they're always so easily spooked.

Richard

[Joerg Rockenberger]

Just fantastic perch, background, sharpness and exposure. And pose and action of course. Did you supply breakfast? :)

It could perhaps be a little bit brighter IMO. Congrats, JR

[Craig Brelsford]

Can't but love this shot, Alan; thanks also for the insights into the capabilities of your D3.

[Stu Bowie]

One drenched kingfisher with brakfast. Good pose, and I like the sprayed droplets from him shaking the fish. Killer BG too.

[Melvin Grey]

Excellent image, Alan. Your attention to detail and preparation work are second to none. Here you have the added bonus of 'action'.

[Chris Martinez]

Love the wet bird look!! Adds so much definition to the KF. He looks a little startled!!
When you say set up, did you supply a little pool with fishes for him to hunt?

[Gabi Sandu]

Great job Alan. Amazing shot in low light condition.

[Alan Murphy]

Love the wet bird look!! Adds so much definition to the KF. He looks a little startled!!
When you say set up, did you supply a little pool with fishes for him to hunt?

Hey Chris, yes I did supply a samll pond with fish. FYI: Complete detail on how I do my Kingfisher set-ups can be found in my eBook.

[Bill Dix]

Another super setup. I love virtually everything about this: wonderful perch, bg, action, detail, pose, comp.

[Manos Papadomanolakis]

Nice action image Allan, the water drops and fish tail add to the image!!!!

[RAM MALLYA]

Alan Kindly explain You always manage to get a clean BG in your setups . Please share your techniques for the setups . Loved the catch and the water droplets flying off the wiggling fish here .

[Arthur Morris]

Alan Kindly explain You always manage to get a clean BG in your setups . Please share your techniques for the setups . Loved the catch and the water droplets flying off the wiggling fish here .

Hi Ram, Getting clean BKGRs with set-ups is usually but not always a matter of putting the perch in a spot with a distant BKGR. But at times Alan takes it way, way beyond that. He details his kingfisher baitfish set-ups, his created BKGR tricks, and dozens and dozens of killer set-up tips in his CD book, "Guide to Songbird Set-up Photography (https://store.birdsasart.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=275)."

The cover of the CD book (seen here) is an example of an Alan Murphy-created BKGR..... I will tell you this, the guy works hard.

[Chris Martinez]

Hey Chris, yes I did supply a samll pond with fish. FYI: Complete detail on how I do my Kingfisher set-ups can be found in my eBook.


Thanks a bunch, Alan.

[Don Thompson]

Beautiful capture.

Please help me with the tech specs as I am very much still learning. Why the negative EV. I know given the situation you described, I would have added and that obvously would have been incorrect? Is it because of the mostly dark subject and wanting to preserve the whites?

[Arthur Morris]

Don, What camera are you using? Sounds like a MIII or MIV to me. The cameras are totally different from the Nikon pro bodies.

[Don Thompson]

Artie, I wish I was using a MIII or MIV, but I am using a 40D.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks. Don. There are still considerable differences between the 40D (though I did not use it much) and the Nikon pro bodies. I would have guessed +1/3 stop for this one with the 40D.

[Don Thompson]

Thanks Artie.

I feel better now. I certainly would yield to your experience but with my experience and my 40D, I would have added about 1/2 stop. I was terribly confused by Alan's -.7EV. I was not aware that there would be that much difference between cameras.

Thanks again.

[Tom Rambaut]

Wow - thats all I'll say.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Artie.

I feel better now. I certainly would yield to your experience but with my experience and my 40D, I would have added about 1/2 stop. I was terribly confused by Alan's -.7EV. I was not aware that there would be that much difference between cameras.

Thanks again.

YAW. Do you work in half stops with the 40D?

[Don Thompson]

YAW. Do you work in half stops with the 40D?

Yes I generally do. I used to use 1/3 stops but in my eye could not see the difference. Do you recommend against it? Should I be working in 1/3 stops?

[Alan Murphy]

Beautiful capture.

Please help me with the tech specs as I am very much still learning. Why the negative EV. I know given the situation you described, I would have added and that obvously would have been incorrect? Is it because of the mostly dark subject and wanting to preserve the whites?

Hey Don, In order to preserve the detail in the whites on the neck, I needed to under expose a little. The white neck on Belted Kingfishers are a tough exposure.

[Arthur Morris]

Yes I generally do. I used to use 1/3 stops but in my eye could not see the difference. Do you recommend against it? Should I be working in 1/3 stops?

I work in 1/3 stops for finer control. Note that the difference between +1/3 stop and +1/2 stop is only 1/6 stop :)

[Arthur Morris]

Hey Don, In order to preserve the detail in the whites on the neck, I needed to under expose a little. The white neck on Belted Kingfishers are a tough exposure.

As above, the Canon and Nikon bodies are quite different. Neither is "better" as long as folks understand exposure and histograms and their cameras. Obviously you have that stuff down pat :)

[Don Thompson]

Thanks Alan for the explanation and for the minor hijacking of your thread. I understand why the negative EV

Thanks Artie for your help too. I will stay with the 1/2 stop adjustments for the time being anyway. My photography has not yet progressed to the point where 1/6 of a stop matters one way or the other. If I can correctly get within the 1/2 stop, I am happy.

Again Alan, great picture. It is photos like this that continue to motivate me to study and improve.