Male Giant Kingfisher

[Stu Bowie]

Its Kingfisher time again, and after visiting my favourite location last Sunday, I'm sorry I hadn't been back there more often. In this image, I don't normally shoot any subject from this angle as the light is coming from the right. But seeing it was a Giant Kingfisher, I moved back a bit to try for a better angle, and get more light on him. I was pleasantly surprised with the result, but have far better images taken on the opposite side of where I was standing. Taken in the Pilanesburg National Park while the light was still good. I did clean up some grasses around the bottom of the perch.

Canon 1D Mark IV
Canon 300mm F/2.8 +2X TC = 600mm
1/2000
F/7.1
ISO 2000

Exp Comp +0.67
Hand Held.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Lovely image, Stu. The bird and perch are beautiful but the background is drop dead gorgeous. Kingfishers are my nemesis, I have yet to get images I am satisfied with. Here they are such a flighty bird. Thank you for sharing.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Looks good Stu. The head is angled slightly away, but having it turned this way would have had the face in shade. Nice perch, great BG. I love the red chest feathers.

[Glenn Pure]

The thumbnail of this gives no hint to how good this shot is. The bird, the perch, the background all excellent as is your rendering. The light angle has also shown up nice feather detail that might not otherwise be apparent and with only a minor 'cost' of that shadowing around the back of the head. Thanks for sharing.

[John Mack]

Nice kingfisher like the perch and the composition here.

[gail bisson]

Great shot of this KF.
I love, love the BG and the lines created by the perch.
I quite like the side lighting- adds a bit of drama.
These birds are gorgeous. A solid A from me!
Gail

[Jonathan Ashton]

Very nice Stu, light not perfect but certainly a well detailed shot.

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Always appreciated.