This is my first shot of a Kingfisher, and first photo on here.
It was a bit of a grab shot as they are so fast, but got lucky when it landed on this perch for a few seconds.
Im unsure if i like the plain background, but it was a grey day and that has reflected in the water behind the bird.
Hi John, and welcome to BPN! A very nice first post -- and an excellent bird to catch. I don't mind the light background -- you didn't have much choice. I think you would have an option to crop a little off the top if you wanted to. The exposure and colors look good, although maybe just a little high on saturation? But then I don't know these birds, so maybe it's accurate.
Processing is as important as capture these days -- it will net you more information if you also tell us about that.
Very nice shot! These kingfishers are very colorful and bright, nice rendition here. I like the slightly open beak. BG is a non-issue for me. As Diane suggested, I would crop a bit -- some from the top and little from the left if you can keep the IQ.
I wish I had that BG sometimes! Really sets off the beautiful bird, well done. I would also like to see what little tighter crop looks like. I am finding grey days are sometimes good for colorful birds, it doesn't keep me in any more.
For me, yes, the tighter crop gives more emphasis to the bird. The empty space wasn't doing anything. With a more interesting background, it might have been god to include more of it.
A beautiful subject, and I like the head angle. Good colours, contrast, sharpness. The blunt ending to the perch is unfortunate, but being a "grab shot" you take what you can. Had this been a setup, then a better perch could be put in place. Still OK though as it has nice texture and lichens to it. BG is good for me, I'm a fan of high key therefor having it even brighter white would have been good, too.
If these are indeed the correct exif numbers then I would suggest raising the ISO. It worked well here, but by raising the ISO you can get much better SS, which in turn will give you a better keeper rate by helping avoid camera or subject blur. (ISO 800 would have given you 1/400s.).
Thanks Daniel, thats very encouraging for a new member, and someone who is fairly new to photography.
I understand what you mean about ISO value and i could have increased it to give a better SS.
It was just a "lucky chance" shot, i was hoping it would come and land on this branch, when it did i panicked a bit and only got three shots off before it was away, this is the best one, like you say a faster SS might have given me all three keepers.
First Kingfisher and first post.
Kingfisher by bx338, on Flickr
kingfisher crop by bx338, on Flickrghter
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