Pied kingfisher

[Jonathan Ashton]

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

[Karl Egressy]

Nice species, great catch, nice background, Jonathan.

[Randy Stout]

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

[Miguel Palaviccini]

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

[Stu Bowie]

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.

[Faraaz Abdool]

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.

[vishaljadhav]

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

[Robert Holguin]

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

[Jonathan Ashton]

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

[nick clayton]

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.

[dankearl]

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.

[arash_hazeghi]

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

[Jonathan Ashton]

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.

[christopher galeski]

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

[Satish Ranadive]

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

Regards,
Satish.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

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