Kingfisher

[Robert Kimbrell]

1DdxII 600II & 1.4
1/4000, F5.6, ISO 2500
Bird baited and shot from a blind.

[Isaac Grant]

Beautiful landing pose and raised wing. Prey item adds interest. Background is very nice as well and I love the water droplets flying about.

Image feels a little dark to me and I think would benefit from raising the exposure.. Also a little cramped on the top. I would take some off of the bottom where I don't think the room below the tail adds anything to the photo and add that space to the top. Also I went back to this shot 3 times on 2 different screens and still am not 100% on it but I think it is not tack sharp. Not sure if it is from motion blur or just needs a bit of extra sharpening.

[arash_hazeghi]

I like this dynamic frame Robert, I agree with Issac re placement and also sharpening the bird a bit more. would have been nice if you could place the perch a bit lower to be eye level with the KF when he lands

TFS

[David Salem]

Cool looking landing frame Robert. The pose, colors and perch all look great. I do agree with everything on Isaacs critique. Needs a bit of exposure increase and sharpening. Great job catching this one.

[Jonathan Ashton]

A fine shot Robert, certainly worthwhile reprocessing along the suggested guidelines, this could be a real stunner of a shot.

[gail bisson]

This is FANTASTIC!
I am OK with the amount of room on the top but agree with a bit more sharpening.i think the exposure is OK because if you increase it the whites around the neck will be blown.
Great frame and I love the extended wings and the water droplets,
Gail

[Isaac Grant]

I think something more along these lines would be better for this shot. As I mentioned above I took room from the bottom and added to the top. Then I rotated the image a bit to get rid of the steep angle of the perch. Lightened the background and added a bit of extra sharpening to the bird. This would be much better on the original of course.

[Robert Kimbrell]

Thanks Isaac, and everyone for the responses. I like you version Isaac. The rotation looks good. I also like the exposure. I was hesitant to bring up the exposure globally as I feel the whites would get too hot. I appreciate all the comments and suggestions and will put them to good use as I have many more taken on this day. Hope to post another pose in the next few days. Thanks again for the feedback.