Green Kingfisher (female)

[Jeannean Ryman]

I went to a local pond yesterday and found this little female Green Kingfisher. I got her on two different perches, so will share this one first. Shooting conditions: partly cloudy under tree cover with a Nikon D7000/500mm f/4-P @ 1/320, f/6.3, ISO 320 on tripod/gimbal head. This was taken in landscape mode and cropped to portrait. Very small crop off the bottom. I see lots of details in the full size version, but when resizing, a lot of it's lost. :( Comments, suggestions, critiques are most welcome.

[Doug West]

Jeannean...nice Kingfisher. My only problem is the length of the perch. I'd crop more off the
perch so it doesn't overwhelm the Kingfisher...maybe about half way up. Then if you don't have
the room from the original image, add some canvas on the left. And maybe remove that item
right under the bird that's on the limb.

Doug

[Jeannean Ryman]

Thanks Doug. I have plenty of crop options with this as it's nearly a full frame shot (on a DX sensor), so appreciate the suggestion. I think your idea of taking half the perch out helps (as well as cloning out the "thead" on the perch). I didn't add canvas on the left side as it seemed to center the bird too much in the frame, however, cropping is always a challenge for me. Here's a repost with a tighter crop from the bottom and side from the original.

[Doug West]

Oh yeah, I like that better!

Doug

[Jeff Cashdollar]

What a great moment in nature, just beautiful!

Doug comments are spot on and I would take a layer off the top (too much neg space) and lighten the eye a bit. I love the muted creamy background, well done, using a tripod shows good field technique thanks for sharing - what a fantastic photograph!!

[Clyde Hopper]

Awesome work Jeannean ! I agree with all the comments . you may be able to tweak the eye a bit ,and push a great photo even further ! love this one !

[Joel Eade]

Repost definitely better and I agree with trying to lighten the eye slightly. Well done.

[Arthur Morris]

Excellent image. Why not in Avian? Image Quality excellent. For the repost I did some DIgital Eye Dr. work.

[Clyde Hopper]

Excellent image. Why not in Avian? Image Quality excellent. .

HEY , No stealing the ETTL participants ! lol .In all seriousness though ,when should someone move up to the Avian Forum ?

[Arthur Morris]

Hey Clyde, I am just starting to hang around here so I really do not know. This image would surely do well in Avian.

[Arthur Morris]

HEY , No stealing the ETTL participants ! lol .In all seriousness though ,when should someone move up to the Avian Forum ?

Clyde, I gotta ask. Is your middle name Kadiddle? Sorry--I could not resist :)

[Clyde Hopper]

Clyde, I gotta ask. Is your middle name Kadiddle? Sorry--I could not resist :)

Artie ,That is the second time you asked the same question LOL, my response was then and again now ......You must be pretty old to even know who red skeleton is . not that I'm calling you old cause I remember him well ! lol And on some forums I do go by Kadiddlehopper

[Jeannean Ryman]

Thank you all for the comments and suggestions. You all are SO helpful and I appreciate it! Artie, I lurk over in Avian sometimes to learn, but don't feel up to that posting level yet. I've got a LONG way to go, but thank you for the encouragement (and the "eye Dr."). I'll post my other photo of the same bird on a different perch tomorrow and will try the eye fix and crop suggestions. Clyde, I remember Clyde Kaddiddlehopper. Of course I was just a baby, but I have an extraordinary memory. lol

[Clyde Hopper]

Thank you all for the comments and suggestions. You all are SO helpful and I appreciate it! Artie, I lurk over in Avian sometimes to learn, but don't feel up to that posting level yet. I've got a LONG way to go, but thank you for the encouragement (and the "eye Dr."). I'll post my other photo of the same bird on a different perch tomorrow and will try the eye fix and crop suggestions. Clyde, I remember Clyde Kaddiddlehopper. Of course I was just a baby, but I have an extraordinary memory. lol

LOL you were young ....Errrr .....It was Clem Kadiddlehopper ...lol . And I agree with Mr.Morris about your photography ,

[Arthur Morris]

Artie ,That is the second time you asked the same question LOL, my response was then and again now ......You must be pretty old to even know who red skeleton is . not that I'm calling you old cause I remember him well ! lol And on some forums I do go by Kadiddlehopper

Well, all that I can say is that approaching senility is a terrible thing. I remember Red Skelton (who, having died in 1997 is surely a skeleton by now), but I barely recall commenting on your name before (though it is slowly coming back....)

[Arthur Morris]

Thank you all for the comments and suggestions. You all are SO helpful and I appreciate it! Artie, I lurk over in Avian sometimes to learn, but don't feel up to that posting level yet. I've got a LONG way to go, but thank you for the encouragement (and the "eye Dr."). I'll post my other photo of the same bird on a different perch tomorrow and will try the eye fix and crop suggestions. Clyde, I remember Clyde Kaddiddlehopper. Of course I was just a baby, but I have an extraordinary memory. lol

YAW. We have lots on my Digital Eye Doctor techniques in our Digital Basics file here and the latest stuff is on one of three MP4 videos (cheap!); you can see those here. Thanks to your contributions here at ETL and for your membership support.

[Clyde Hopper]

Hi Artie ,Your not getting senile ,You just (Being Famous and all ) speak to way more people than anyone could keep up with . Most everything I say and do is "Tough in cheek " so the name does fit . just to jog your memory though... on pane 4.....


http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...o-from-Georgia

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Artie ,Your not getting senile ,You just (Being Famous and all ) speak to way more people than anyone could keep up with . Most everything I say and do is "Tough in cheek " so the name does fit . just to jog your memory though... on pane 4.....


http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...o-from-Georgia

Too funny. At least someone has a good memory!

[Faraaz Abdool]

Hey Jeannean - this is an extraordinarily good photo of a green kingfisher. Being small and skittish they are difficult to see at best where I'm from. The RP is beautiful. I don't know how good you have to be to post in Avian - but you gotta start somewhere. I've already posted something to Avian - you just gotta know that the purpose of posting to these Critique Forums is to...learn!

I actually post pictures that I'm unsure about as opposed to photos that I think are my best, just to get feedback. Except for the hummingbird one which I just wanted to share with you guys ;-).