Sweet Light Giant

[Stu Bowie]

Its all about the light. The sun was still rising when I captured this image early sunday morning in the Pilanesberg National Park. The Giant Kingfisher is the largest of all the Kingfishers. I only managed a few images before he flew away, and this was the best with regards to a semi decent pose. The BG is a distant OOF mountain and is as shot.

1D Mark IV
100-400 @ 400mm
1/1000
F/6.3
ISO 800

Exp Comp +0.33
Hand Held

[Ofer Levy]

The light and BG are nice. However, the hidden body weakens this image.

[Randy Stout]

Stuart:

Great early morning light, BG.

It looks like he is sitting in a bowl to my eye, and I do agree with Ofer that this detracts from the image. Too bad he wasn't on this side of the stick.

Cheers

Randy

[Bill Dix]

Beautiful light and amazing bill. Seeing more of the bird would be a plus.

[Marina Scarr]

Lovely light and great details, but have to agree about the body being hidden.

[gail bisson]

Love the light and the composition.
Beautiful IQ and PP on this one.
Agree with above but still a lovely image,
Gail

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks for the honest feedback everyone - noted.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Too bad it wasn't perched on top of the branch, but the light is top-notch (so is the BG).