Stacked Kingfishers

Well, you can call it how you see it.;) Taken in the Pilanesberg nature reserve a little while back. Pity the beak is merging with the head. The lower BG is an OOF mountain.

Canon 50D
100-400 @ 400mm
1/3200
F/5.6
ISO 500

Exp Comp 0
Hand held

Stuart:

Well timed with very strong graphic feel to the image, very simple compositionally. Strong diagonal lines. In a way the bill touching the others head seems to further strengthen their 'connection". I would prefer it clear, but it still works.

Nicely exposed and sharp.

Just as a compositional exercise, I might be tempted to fiddle with rotating the mountain portion or the entire upper portion of the image so that the line of the mountains and the birds were roughly parallel, and I also might try a version where the mountains sloped down from the left to act as a balance to the 'weight ' of the birds. Lots of fun stuff to try here.

Cheers. Looks like fun was had by all that day.;)

Randy

I like this simple, powerful shot. Very well exposed. The bill on the head is not a problem for me, especially if the behavior has to do with mating. In that case, it would be another part of the story. The bigger problem is that the lower kingfisher is behind the branch on which she is standing.

Great timing, Stu. No chance of getting beak separation as he is hanging on with it! Now we know why there are so many PKs at Pilanesberg:)

Great sharpness and angle Stu. I like the 2 tone bg. The comp is strong and the exposure is nailed. Super shot ;)

Awesome capture Stuart. Really great comp. with the perch tip mimicking the beaks. Sharp and well exposed. Fantastic.:)

I've never seen even one kingfisher this close, much less a picture of two of them
discussing the pros and cons of having a family! Terrific comp; congratulations!

Thank you all for the kind words. Much appreciated.