STORK BILLED KINGFISHER

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Shot in Goa in the monsoon.
Camera : Canon 1D Mk III
Lens : Canon 600mm f4 IS
Shutters : 1/50 sec
Aperture : f8
Speed : ISO 2500
Reach : 1200mm

Cheers,
Rakesh

[Robert Holguin]

Real nice image. I really like the background. Well composed and love the pose of the bird. Like if it has spotted its next meal. Looks pretty sharp to me despite using such a low shutter. Well done.

[Chris van Rooyen]

Wow, very aptly named! Lovely setting, and sharpness very good, especially at that SS. I would have liked a tiny bit more canvass at the bottom?

[Dave Leroy]

Photo is very sharp at that ss.

I particularly like the nice complimentary bg, in particular to the left of bird.

I guess by 1200mm reach means you were using a 2 X TC.

Dave

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Wow, what a bird! Sharp with lots of details. Nice bg too.
Moving him a bit higher in the frame would perhaps work well.
Nicely done. Looks really great for that iso and low ss.

[Doug Brown]

Love the soft light and nice feather detail. Good choice to push your ISO here; noise is well-controlled. I agree with the comments about more room at the bottom. I think there's a magenta/blue color cast to the image.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Rakesh, loved the sharpness here. just loved it. Its one of my favorite kingfishers...what a bird and your shot does full justice.

[Stu Bowie]

Rakesh, impressive sharpness and detail, and this guy certainly has a fair size bill. I like how the bill follows the line of the OOF leaves in the BG.

[Paul Guris]

Love the image and the lichen covered perch. The only nit that I have is that something looks odd to me in the wing feathers. It looks like they might be sharpened a bit too much when I compare them to the breast and cap feathers, but that just may be the fact that they are blue and so show the edging very differently so take the comment for what it's worth.

[Pieter de Waal]

Rakesh , sorry I missed this beauty, wonderful light, detail and IQ and love the pose.

[Steven Kersting]

Very nice, sharp, interesting bird.

Composition wise, the centered head position works for me. However, the bird seems to be looking at something and I can't tell what. I would prefer to "know" what the bird was looking at or a different HA with more "eye contact". (I think that might be why some would like more space below)

Exposure wise, I think it's a bit flat and slightly off on color.

All I did was a levels adjustment using the white patch on the head for white point and the eye for the black point. then reduced the white output level to 245.

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