Giant Kingfisher ( female )

[Stu Bowie]

This giant kingfisher was perched on a railing of a bridge, so I couldnt resist a portrait. Once again, poor light due to overcast conditions during my recent trip to the kruger national park.

Canon 1D Mark IV
Canon 300mm F/2.8
1/200
F/8.0
ISO 2000

Exp comp +0.33
hand held from my car

[David Salem]

Great looking portrait of this KF. The detail in the beak and the head feathers is very nice. Another trip with crappy weather? Sure dont think of S. Africa having overcast weather but you cant figure mother nature. Hope you got some more keepers. TFS

[christopher galeski]

Nice one Stuart,if you lookin to the eye,you can see the rail and I think outline of you.TFS.

[Thinus Schoeman]

Stu, sharp with very nice detail around the head and beak area, and a very nice composition. Well done in what was obviously difficult light conditions.

[MohsenVahedipour]

Excellent portrait with nice detail. Like the composition & perfect exposure. TFS

[keith mitchell]

Hi Stuart ,you have certainly got some excellent sharp detail and colour even in the bad light that you describe.

Keith.

[Martin Dunn]

Lovely shot Stuart.
Great detail on a beuatiful bird.

[Girish Prahalad]

the beak and the crest takes the cake. great details & BG.
must have been very close not to get the back in focus even at F8.

[Karl Egressy]

Excellent portrait shot, Stuart. The head is nice and sharp. Love to see the reflection of the sky in the eye.

[Grace Scalzo]

Such interesting details. An image that the eye can linger on for a long time and enjoy.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Awesome image Stu! With 300mm you must have been very close!! Well done.

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks a stack everyone. Yes, she was pretty close to the car, and should have mentioned this is actually full frame. At this distance, no amount of stopping down would have rendered any more DOF.

Chris: what you are seeing as a reflection of the railing, is actually a bit of the nictitating membrane.

[Sidharth Kodikal]

Sweet details and excellent IQ (especially considering the ISO). You likely have the best KF image collection on the planet, Stu. I wish I had anything half good to trade you for one of these

[Gabriela Plesea]

I can almost touch this little guy, Stu! Amazing IQ! Love the dramatic BG behind the subject.

Sorry about the weather conditions, must have been quite frustrating. But it looks like that cloudy sky did not have a negative effect on your images, on the contrary. I look forward to see more pics from your Kruger trip!

Kind regards,

[vishaljadhav]

Thats close man, i love it
IQ looks fantastic, yes that close there was no way the stopping down would have helped, love the way the black is exposed and the head angle is nice
Crest makes it a interesting portrait

[gail bisson]

I love the clean BG.
Great details and no noise in the blacks considering your high ISO.
Lovely portrait. How lucky to be so close.
Well done,
Gail

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

Amazingly close with great detail on the head. I would have loved more dof on the body. Great bg.