Green Kingfisher, and 2nd year Anniversary Thank You

[Bill Dix]

D7000 | 80-400 VR @ 400mm | ISO 800 | 1/1250s @ f/6.3 | +0.3 EV | HH from boat

Costa Rica, several weeks ago.

This month marks two years since I decided to get into avian photography -- bought new camera and lens, purchased ABP-I and II, and joined BPN. I would like to take this as an opportunity to thank all of you who have helped me advance my fledgling art and technique over these two years, inspiring me with your beautiful images and gentle critique. I have much more to learn, and look forward to continued inspiration and support from BPN. Thank you!

[Troy Lim]

Congrats. Wow you must be close. Looks good on the iPhone.
My 2 years will be coming up soon too.
How do you like the D7000?

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Bill, interesting colours on this kingfisher. Very similar to our giant Kingfisher ( male ) with the bronze upper chest, but not with the green sheen on the head. Good sharpness, alert pose, and love the smooth BG. Congrats on your milestone.

[arash_hazeghi]

excellent pose BG and details, perch is not ideal but still a nice shot

[Melissa Groo]

What a fantastic shot, Bill. Did you try to lighten (dodge) the shadow at all on the back of the head?

[Jim Crosswell]

Great image Bill! I like the sharpness, details and BG. Congratulations on your 2nd year anniversary.

[Thanaboon Jearkjirm]

Congratulation with the 2nd anniversary!!!
Love the sharpness, the details, the pose and the background. A maybe not be ideally perfect but you did good with the exposure. I might crop just a tiny bit off the left, but that maybe just me. A very interesting KF, never seen it before, TFS.

[Bill Dix]

Congrats. Wow you must be close. Looks good on the iPhone.
My 2 years will be coming up soon too.
How do you like the D7000?

Thanks Troy. I managed to locate a D7000 just a few days before leaving for Costa Rica, and snapped it up knowing I would have lots of low-light conditions there. No time to practice with it before leaving, and experimenting with a new camera while on a trip may not be the best thing to do. Only now am I getting a close look at the results on the computer. Some successes even at 3200 ISO, and also some failures, with fine-grained noise in shaded areas of many shots. Still, it enabled me to get shots that I wouldn't have even attempted with the D90. All in all I love it, but I'll need to learn how far I can push it and under what conditions. Also like the dual memory card slots.

[Bill Dix]

excellent pose BG and details, perch is not ideal but still a nice shot

Thanks Arash. I agree about the perch. This is the only close look I got of this little guy, and it's where he chose to perch, but I might have wished for better.

[Bill Dix]

What a fantastic shot, Bill. Did you try to lighten (dodge) the shadow at all on the back of the head?

Thanks Melissa. Lighting was not ideal. I did try to lighten up the back of the head to bring out a bit of detail, but might have gone further.

[Bill Dix]

Thank you all for looking. I appreciate the kind and helpful comments.

[Enrique Patino]

Thanks for sharing Bill. Kingfishers are surely an interesting family (or sub-order). Have you been in other countries in CA photographing beside CR?

[Bill Dix]

Thanks for sharing Bill. Kingfishers are surely an interesting family (or sub-order). Have you been in other countries in CA photographing beside CR?

Thanks Enrique. I've been in the Yucatan several times, but that was before I began photographing birds; and a trip to the Galapagos last year with a day in Quito, although I guess that's not CA. Costa Rica was marvelous (saw 300 species in 11 days), and I'd love to go back.

[Ofer Levy]

Lovely light and colours, sharp with awesome detail. Looks pretty clean for 800 iso. Agree re the perch but still nice.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Two years already!! Thanks for your participation here on BPN:c3:

Great looking KF. Sharp, and well exposed for what looks like strong light (good job keeping the whites in check). I'd desaturate the BG as it seems a bit too vivid on the yellow channel back there.

Thanks for sharing, and here's to another two years...and more!!

[Ofer Levy]

I'd desaturate the BG as it seems a bit too vivid on the yellow channel back there.

BG looks fine to me - won't touch it as there is nothing wrong with a vivid coloured BG when the subject is also quite colourful.:w3

[Brendan Dozier]

That is an outstanding image, Bill! Nice post for your two-year anniversary. :cheers:

[Dumay de Boulle]

Lovely image and light Bill...Great stuff with a fantastic BG...This is a amazing looking KF and congrats on the 2 years