Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher with frog catch

[Shantanu Ambulgekar]

Hello Friends,
First image post on BPN. Please comment/guide.
For processing Photoshop cs5 is used and for noise reduction, topaz plug-in.

Body -Canon 7d,
f-stop - f/7.1,
Exposure time - 1/50 sec,
ISO-400,
Flash used - no flash.
Lens used - Canon 100-400 mm IS USM Lens.



Regards,
Shantanu Ambulgekar.

[Doug Brown]

Welcome to BPN Shantanu! Impressive first post- beautiful bird and really cool prey item. Image is a little tight up top; a little more canvas would help. A bit of fill flash would have preserved your exposure on the subject while allowing you to tame the BG, which I find to be too bright above the bird's bill. Look forward to seeing more of your images!

[gail bisson]

Welcome to BPN Shantanu. ( I like your name!)
My first impression was great pose and prey in the bill but the exposure is off. You really needed a bit of fill flash for this image.
Did you know you can post larger at 1200 pixels by 900 pixels with a maximum of 400KB?
Overall, I agree with Doug that the image is a bit tight and I would loosen the comp all around.
Looking forward to your contributions,
Gail

[Nancy Bell]

Welcome to BPN! You captured an awesome moment with a perfect head turn to show off that poor frog. Also a very nice perch, running horizontally from edge to edge, and no interfering details. Agree with the above exposure observations and suggestions. I would also increase the speed greatly to ensure sharpness when you capture such action.

[arash_hazeghi]

very nice first post! welcome. you had some tough condition (back light) to deal with but you did well and the prey is priceless. A flash or moving around such that the KF was fully against the green would have helped here
TFS

[Shantanu Ambulgekar]

Thanks for comments Nancy. Since I am using 7d, I have limited ISO range with which I can play to get the speed. I agree what you are pointing to, and sure in future if I can get a good body (planning for 7d mark II ) then I will keep this in mind.

Regards,
Shantanu ambulgekar

[Shantanu Ambulgekar]

Thanks a lot Doug. Will keep in mind.

Regards,
Shantanu Ambulgekar

[Satish Ranadive]

Welcome to BPN Shantanu. Beautiful image to start with.
Rest is mentioned above.

Regards,
Satish.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hey Shantanu, welcome to BPN!! Excellent subject and prey, very nice perch too. I agree with BG and compositional tightness issue. As for shutter speed, my 7D is pretty much glued on ISO 800 unless really bright out there, and I even use ISO 1600 when needed so that is 1/100s. and 1/200s. right there...open up the lens another 2/3 and now you have 1/160s., and 1/320s. rsepectively (@ ISO 800 and 1600). Just something to think about as the 7D is not as bad as perceived when well exposed.