Pied kingfisher

Tripod Canon 7D canon 500mmm f4 l IS ISO 400, 1/1600 sec f6.3
Another image from The Gambia.
All comments welcome.

Nice species, great catch, nice background, Jonathan.

Jon:

I love their tiny feet! The fish parallel to the bill is a bit different, perhaps just ready to send it down the hatch. Curved perch line adds more interest.

Wish his head was a sliver more our way.

Sharp.

Cheers

Randy

Jonathan,

Great exposure to get the detail in both the whites and blacks. Nice sized perch with a clean background, always a plus.

I really like the catchlight in this one, but just wish the head were turned just a sliver more toward the camera plane.

Miguel

Hi Jon, a healthy looking male KF, and proudly showing off his catch, although he seems pretty alert to something. You have exposed the KF very well, sharp, and if this were mine, I would remove the tiny lower catchlight. Great smooth BG too. Well captured.

Amazing shot, beautiful BG and bird. Well done exposing this bird correctly. Many people tend to blow the whites on the head. Extra 500 points for the meal.

Wow this one looks fantastic, the details are fantastic the fish adds a lot to the image
the beautiful bg enhances the subject a lot
TFS

Terrific shot!!!
Wonderful background and great perch.
Very nice light, great IQ, and great comp.
Very well done.

Thanks for the feedback everyone, glad you liked it, I attach the original as captured.

Blimey Jonathan you have done a brilliant job cleaning the background, I would never have known. I love the pose of the bird and the fish in bill is cracking, it's a great looking bird. The lightsource would have been better coming from directly behind you and head turned slightly towards you would have been good, but I very much like this image.

I would have left some of the BG, especially the grasses below the perch, it gives it a much more natural look to me.
I would have also left (but toned down) the branches on the left.
The OP looks like a set-up to me.

excellent pose and good details, I like the fish. I also wish for a head turn

Thanks again, when I commenced cleaning up the original intention was to leave some remnants in the background, the problem was that as I went along it became more difficult to leave some without others and retain a natural look in the end I removed just about everything.

very nice Jonathan,like how you have PS the BG,sharp,like the fish in the beak.thanks.

Jonathan:
Excellent image of handsome bird.Great details in blacks and whites.Very nice pp work.
Love the frame.

Regards,
Satish.

you did well with the cleanup but I am with Dan on leaving the left and bottom greens. They help to frame a very nice capture IMO