Went Back and Tried again

[vishaljadhav]

After my last post , went back to the same place and tried to click the Oriental Dwarf kingfisher again

5D MIII + 400 f 2.8 + 2x TC

ISO 320 , f8, 1/320
better beamer at 1/2 power 580 ex ii
exposure manual , flash held by a friend to ensure off camera firing from the car


Critiques and suggestions welcome
Let me know how does the flash work looks, very new to this

vishal

[Karl Egressy]

It's good to have someone holding the flash. Nice image, love the colors and pose. Excellent flash work.

[Loi Nguyen]

Love the bird, colors, sharpness. I'm no flash expert, but the image does look "flash" to me due to the dark BG. Let's wait to hear from others. Loi

[dankearl]

It has a flash look, obviously, with the dark BG, but not in a bad way for me.
Sharp, attractive bird.
I would take some off the bottom.

[Randy Stout]

Vishal:

Yes, flash 'look' as mentioned. The bird is nice, but the bg gives it away.

He is a handsome fellow love the tiny orange feet, head angle.

With a cooperative subject, I would experiment with different balances of the flash vs. ambient light. Often dragging the shutter ( slower speeds) will open up the bg while the flash provides the bulk of the light on the subject.

Cheers

Randy

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Vishal, isnt it great going back to a location and finding your ideal subject that you set out to see and capture. Striking colours standing out against the BG, and with a lovely pose too. Im not familar with the new 5D MKIII, but thought you could push the limits with higher ISO's. I feel even ISO 800 would have given you a faster ss, and as he was perched, it would have been suffice. Furthermore, adding a bit of EC would have opened up the darker areas. Still a fine image, and congrats on getting him again.

[vishaljadhav]

Thanks for the suggestions.
The bird here loves the dark dense areas and hence when i tried a shot at AV i was getting 1/15 at ISO 6400, which gave me too much of grain and no great sharpness i posted one here some days back with those settings, i guess i need to get some what of a image in-between with say ISO 800 or ISO 1000 so that the flash can help me light up some of the BG also with more light going in.
The Orange on the bird is very notorious when it comes to yielding details and lower ISO has always helped me get them right.
Let me try it again to get a better image. really appreciate your feedback

[Jeannean Ryman]

This bird is certainly worth going back for! Love it! I rarely use my flash, so am no help, but just wanted to wish you luck.

[Doug Brown]

I would say that you definitely need to let more ambient light in (maybe a full stop or more) and probably decrease your flash output. When in Costa Rica I typically have my fill flash at -2 to -3 stops and I shoot in ETTL for the most part. Using manual flash at 1/2 power isn't necessarily 1/2 power; it all depends on your distance to subject. Try ETTL with flash exposure compensation.

[Marina Scarr]

I just love this gorgeous bird against the dark BG. Wouldn't mind seeing it with less flash to see the difference, but these colors just pop esp against the BG. Love seeing his little talons wrapped around the perch.

[Gary Kinard]

Man I feel your pain with this guy. It is the hardest bird I personally have ever tried to photograph. I have tried flash also. That is better than any of my attempts. I personally think it is almost impossible with out a blind and some fair light.
This guy is by far the best jungle photographer I have ever seen and here is a pic that starts a series on flickr. With the black back KF. http://www.flickr.com/photos/lawrenc...n/photostream/

Totally the best I have ever seen and I hate him.... LOL

www.flickr.com/photos/avianphotos
www.birdsthatfart.com

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Such a pretty colorful bird. I like the light on him and the rather dark bg. This is one of those images I would be tempted to burn out the bg to black as well for another version.