Preening Malachite

[Brendon Cremer]

Camera Nikon D3
Focal Length 600 mm
Shutter Speed 1/2000 sec.
Aperture 4
ISO/Film 4000

[Ofer Levy]

Nice pose captured! Going lower shutter speed and lowring the ISO could have been better as there is quite noticeable noise on the bird.

[Randy Stout]

Brendon:

Excellent preening pose, with good eye contact. Got to love those tiny feet.

Although the noise isn't noticeable on the bird on my small work monitor, I certainly agree with Ofer's recommendation for trading shutter speed for ISO here. Perhaps you were set up for take offs so needed the speed, but 4000 is really pushing the D3.

Cheers

Randy

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Brendon, always good to capture behavioural moments. No one has mentioned it, but I feel the front of the MK is a touch too light with regards to exposure. Having said that, the blues on the head are perfect.

[Richard Stern]

Hi,

On my monitor noise isn't a problem, and the exposure looks just right. I'd like a bit of ccw rotation, as I keep thinking the bird looks like it should be sliding off the perch to the right. Lovely blues in particular.

Richard

[Brendon Cremer]

Thanks all for the great comments. I forgot to mention the reason i went with a high ISO and higher SS is because this was shot handheld from a drifting boat on quite a windy day, so really wanted all the speed i could get, but indeed i agree that 4000 ISO on the D3 is a bit of a push but i was very please with the result considering how high the ISO was. Will try darkening the front a tad and see how it looks.:w3

[Daniel Cadieux]

Neat preening pose...not something we often see posted for a KF. Love the tiny feet! I'm glad Richard mentioned for some CCW rotation as I was thinking the same thing upon viewing the image. Great colours!