Full Frame Kingfisher

[Richard Mc Donald]

I've spent quite some time in trying to get the right crop but nothing works to my satisfaction.

To be honest, I like the shot as presented full frame, CCs more than welcome.




1DX - 800L f/5.6 - ISO1250 - f/5.6 - 1/250 - hand held.

ARC sharpening and custom presets with a little localised Smart Sharpening and Curve adjustment after conversion

Richard

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Richard, nice job of capturing the bird in a nice setting. I find the bright sky areas in the background to be distracting and would try toning them down a bit. You have good exposure and color balance as well as nice eye contact. As for the crop, I find the bird to be very centered which makes for a weak composition. I took the liberty of cropping the image to place the bird in the left part of the frame. I also used a curves adjustment to bring up the blacks a bit, as there is some detail to be had there. A touch of USM also to bring out more detail. You could do even more work on this image to perfect it, I only spent a couple of minutes. Keep them coming, you are doing a great job.

[Bob Miller]

Richard....you did a fine job with a difficult subject. I like Kerry's repost and crop. Toning down those highlights really helped because your eye will always be drawn to the brightest part of the photo and away from your subject. Looking forward to seeing more of your work.