Belted Kingfisher

[Doug Brown]

I was at a local marsh the other day with fellow BPNer Jim Keener and my wife, when I saw a Belted Kingfisher female fly in to have a look around. The bird got pretty close to us but flew off after a few seconds. I was happy to get this frame before she vanished!

Canon 1Dx2, 600 mm + 1.4x, f/5.6, 1/4000, ISO 800, manual exposure, hand held

[Tim Foltz]

Doug, great open wing shot of this speedy bird, nice details and catchlight.
My only nit is it looks like you over darkened a few areas on the neck, chest and belly of the bird (sunlit side),
The color looks to gray... If it's just me, my apologies.

-Tim

[Eric Dienesch]

I would be also very happy, if it was my picture. really nice wide open wings, the eye direct to you .
i like it very much.
i am near tims thoughts: a little bit less white or light or on the other side a little bit more black perhaps. but only a little bit !

[Doug Brown]

Doug, great open wing shot of this speedy bird, nice details and catchlight.
My only nit is it looks like you over darkened a few areas on the neck, chest and belly of the bird (sunlit side),
The color looks to gray... If it's just me, my apologies.

-Tim

You bring up a legit issue Tim. The whites in the RAW file weren't blown but they sure were white, and the whites on the neck have very little feather detail. Here's a version where I let the whites shine so to speak. How does this one look to you?

[annmpacheco]

Hi Doug, killer in flight full spread kingfisher Doug. I think i do prefer the OP, a bit more definition on the belly, but id be happy with what you got, its fabulous considering they are bullets!

[Tim Foltz]

Doug I do like the 2nd one better, it doesn't look as painted in as the OP did to me.
These kinds of images are very tough to PP.

-Tim

[Satish Ranadive]

Magnificent flight shot Dougj Sir.Very nice symmetrical wings,beautiul colors,great details ,beautiful HA and composition.


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[Stu Bowie]

Hi Doug, this certainly looks better on the ' big screen ' Once again, a great flight pose captured, and love the full wingspread. Your comp works well with the KF diagonally across the frame.

Your Belted Kingfishers remind me of our Giant Kingfishers.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I got an OK KF flight image that I was happy with...until I saw this one. You knocked it out of the ballpark (I only scored a double, or triple at best). The fully spread wings and tail are superb.

[David Salem]

As far as overhead shots go, this is about as good as you could ask for. The wing position, the head angle with a nice catch light, and the overall details look great. I like the cleaner whites in the repost. Very nice shot Doug

[Doug Brown]

Appreciate the comments everyone!

[Gerhard Weldhagen]

Its hard to say something bad about this image - its an absolute cracker, the detail is superb and looks great on my screen. I do notice a spot in line with the tail on the RHS, looks like oil on the sensor? I have had some issues with oil splatter on my 1DXii sensor lately and this looks quite typical. No worries, easy to fix.