The prize...

[Tim Driman]

Pied Kingfishers don't only eat fish but also prey on frogs..* This favourite food source is a Tropical / Mullers Platanna aka: Xenopus muelleri

They wonderful photpgraphic subjects with their contrasting black and white markings, and their flight patterns can be fairly easily predicted.

They hunt in two main ways...One by sitting on a perch overlooking a pond, stream or river and secondly by hovering in one place with wings flapping madly until they drop down to catch the prey.

Very often they will return ( Like the bee-eaters ) to the same perch where they will proceed to bash their prize until it is lifeless, and only then swallow it whole...

Canon 1DX / 200mm-400mmf4+1.4x

1/320th sec
F8
ISO 1,600

[Tim Driman]

Hi Peter... OMG nothing escapes your eagle-eye vision....

This little guy had settled in a shady area in the branches of an overhanging tree on the bank of the river. Unfortunately there was an offending branch above his head and to the left, so I cropped it to get rid of the obstructions..... *I hate cloning and try to remain faithful to the original scene....But I had tried cloning but that was a failure...

I knew I had his head in enough light and had the catch-light in his eye so I messed around with the mid tones to try and compensate for the tricky light...

I also raised the shadows to compensate for the low light.

I battled to get him beating the poor little frog against the branch in the poor light to had to wait until he rested for a moment...

To be brutally honest, I could have done better but it was our first morning out and you don't often get these kinds of opportunity so I guess I panicked and rushed it a little...

Not trying to make excuses, but I do all must work in the bush and shoot spontaneously, grabbing the moment as it presents itself.... It is very seldom that you can get what you want ( I wish...) and you just have to make the best of what gets dished up by mother nature which is why wildlife and birds are so exciting to photograph...

Many thanks for your kind input which has been carefully noted and which is sincerely appreciated.

Best regards

www.timdrimanphotography.co.za

[tahir abbas]

nice capture but there should be more space at front side!as per my choice!

[Randy Stout]

TIm:

good comments from the guys. Def. would work on the crop to downplay the massive perch. A reprocess per Peter's suggestions should help as well.

Bird photography is always a balancing act of opportunity, light,skill and of course, luck. The more practice you get, the more often capture the moments!

Cheers

Randy

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Nice shot Tim. Love the sharpness, specially in the facial area & prey. Peter has a few good points. just a question - have you perhaps tried PS' Content Aware Fill to get rid of the offending branch? This is a beautiful pic worth any and all of the effort needed to make it pop!

[Tim Driman]

Hi Tobie, To be honest, I use Light Room 5.7.1 and am the first to admit that I am technically challened but do try to read and watch as many tutorials as I can get...

While I have many years of experience in the bush and get plenty of opportunity, I am only self taught from what I have managed to read and put into practice...

The first proper outside assistance I have had was last October when I did a trip with Grant Atkinson and Guts Swanepoel ( to Kalizo on the Zambezi River - Namibia ) who owns Pangolin Photo Safaris..

Since then I have started to take myself more seriously and I know that I really need huge improvement on the software processing side of things as well as more understanding of my equipment, which up until October was entirely trial and error on my part.

Steve Kaluski has been extremely helpful in pointing me towards some publications by Arthur Morris and Arash Hazeghi which I am pouring over and have already started to make changes to the way my equipment is set up....

Now, if I could find some tutorials on how to handle the PP process in Light Room 5.7.1 and get better, I would dive into them with relish...

The guys on this forum have been amazing and their comments have been heeded and very carefully noted, so I can hardly wait until the next time we head off into the bush so I can put them to the test......

Many thanks again for all the kind input which is sincerely appreciated...

Best regards

www.timdrimanphotography.co.za





I will send it to Peter Kes as he has requested the original RAW image which I have in my archives.

Thank you for the very kind comments and assistance

[Tim Driman]

Hi Peter, Yes. I totally agree about spending time on this site.... It has been consuming me but it has been paying dividends.

You guys have all been very kind and I do appreciate all the kind help that I have had.

I will try to send that file on Drop Box because it is RAW and rather large.

Best regards

Tim

[Tim Driman]

Hi Tahir, Thank you for your kind input. Much appreciated.

Best regards

www.timdrimanphotography.co.za

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

"Now, if I could find some tutorials on how to handle the PP process in Light Room 5.7.1 and get better, I would dive into them with relish..."

Welcome to the never ending learning curve of PP software, Tim! The value we get from knowledgable guys on forums like this cannot be converted into $'s and without them it would be almost impossible to get hold of helpful stuff!

There's stack of tutorials available on the 'net but I've recently bought this affordable 5-book downloadable set by Andrew Gibson. You might want to have a look into it. It gives you a nice overview of all the features in LR as well as a set of handy study cases to show you what he has done to make photo's pop: http://www.andrewsgibson.com/blog/ph...ebook-bundles/. IMHO you need a few features from PS too though, where LR is just not (good) enough. Keep in mind Adobe's $9.99pm offer on Creative Cloud which includes both LR and PS.

[Tim Driman]

Hi Tobie, Many thanks for this, I am always happy to learn as much as I can but just need the right stuff...

I have got PS CS4 but have shied away from it as I have no clue about working in layers... That's why I like Light Room..

Where are you based?

Thank you for your kind help

Regards

Tim

[Tobie Schalkwyk]

Hi Tobie, Many thanks for this, I am always happy to learn as much as I can but just need the right stuff...

I have got PS CS4 but have shied away from it as I have no clue about working in layers... That's why I like Light Room..

Where are you based?

Thank you for your kind help

Regards

Tim

I love Peter's final version Tim, that was effort well spent!

You don't need to learn everything about PS for your purpose but there are a few features which really will empower you to do things which LR can't. Unfortunately layers (specifically luminosity masks) is one of them and I'd encourage you to sit down and spend time to learn how to utilise them (learn the basics behind them and then use one of the basic free downloads - you don't have to create your own. I mostly use Jimmy McIntyre's Powerpack - http://www.throughstrangelenses.com/...for-photoshop/ - it's basic, simple, easy to use. I also bought a set from Tony Kuyper - the master of LM's - but that's much more involved). PS' Content Aware Fill is simply magic - literally! - and is way beyond what LR offers for the same purpose. There's often something which LR's spot removal tool can not remove cleanly (e.g. a branch crossing a subject's body or a 'Don't get out of your car' notice board) and most of the time PS' Content Aware Fill removes it in such a way that you'd never guess that it was there, all with the click of a button! PS' Unsharp Masking is an excellent sharpening tool, much better than anything LR offers. It has excellent selective sharpening / blurring capabilities. If you only learn these PS features and nothing else, you'll still lift your PP abilities to a new level.

I'm in Krugersdorp - unfortunately too far for private lessons!

[Tim Driman]

Hi Peter,

Oh wow! I see what you mean...

This image was taken on my first outing with the 1DX / 200mm-400mmf4+1.4x and I was experimenting.....Today, I very seldom ever use TV and usually will check my metering first on AV and then go over to full manual or settle at F.6.3 / F7.1 / F8 depending on how far away I am from the subject...If I get the opoortunity I like to try and shoot at no less than 1/2,500 sec or faster on F7.1 / F8.... Auto WB / Auto ISO.... On light subjects / darker BG I will go up to -2EV and for dark subjects on lighter BG I will go to +2EV and check for "blinkies" on my LCD screen...

I am presently reading two guides to the AF system on the DX and have made some minor adjustments thus far.....

I had the audacity to think that I knew my way around a camera until the 1DX but it has been a whole new departure for me, and it definitely needs a lot of getting tuned in, unlike the previous 1D models..

I have recently added the 7Dii to my arsenal, but have yet to take it into the field...

Until we go off on our next soujourn, I will be studying hard and hope that my new knowledge will enable me to make the improvements which I sorely need.

Thank you again for all your patience and kindness shown to me. They are sincerely appreciated.

Best regards

Tim

[Tim Driman]

Hi Tobie,

Many thanks for this.... I am determined to raise my bar here and will certainly get the Jimmy McIntyre's Powerpack.... Thank you for that very kind input...

Yup, it is a very great pity that you live in Blue bulls / Lions country ( Krugersdorp )... Go Sharks!

I am always happy to correspond and would sincerely appreciate any other links which you may have in an effort to up my game.

Many thanks again.

Best regards

tim@rhinoarmy.org / timdriman@iafrica.com