Common Kingfisher

[Jay Shah]

This is autumn-winter visitor to Singapore. Luckily, they like to fish in lotus pond thereby creating colorful BG.

Nikon D500, 600 f4 + 1.4 TC
1/100 s, f/8, ISO 360.

C&C welcome and appreciated.

[David Salem]

Wow!! This looks fantastic but something has gone wrong with your processing. Looks like to much processing. Oversaturated and to strong of contrast. The bird looks soft yet the flower looks ok. If the RAW is sharp then a revisit to this one will make all the difference. The whole scene is perfect!!
I did a repost but it is very soft so I am not able to do much but I threw it out there so you can get an idea of what I am seeing. I reduced the saturation by 15 points, increased the exposure a bit, lowered the black channel, added more sharpening and cleaned up the catchlight in the eye. Definitely need to start from scratch with the RAW.

[Bill Dix]

I agree with David -- This is definitely worth revisiting. Wonderful subject, perch and background, but something is off. I wondered if part of the problem was motion blur, but in David's repost some areas seem pretty sharp so maybe that is not the case. But keep in mind that with the D500 you can raise the ISO way above 360 to get a faster shutter speed. If it is not a typo, 1/100s seems way low for 600 + 1.4 even on a sturdy tripod.

[Jake Levin]

The colors and composition are wonderful but I agree with the others who have pointed out the sharpness. If the RAW file is sharp, something in the post processing gave you a blurry JPEG. I have a feeling, however, that the 1/100 shutter speed was the culprit (if that's the actual shutter speed and not a typo). Higher ISO and/or larger aperture would have helped if that is in fact that case.

[arash_hazeghi]

excellent image with such attractive perch held back by poor techs, I think the RAW was soft here from the low SS. your ISO was too low and the resulting slow shutter speed made the image soft. you could have raised the ISO to 1600 at least and opened up the aperture to f/5.6 this would have placed you near 1/1000sec and most likely a sharp frame

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

your ISO was too low and the resulting slow shutter speed made the image soft. you could have raised the ISO to 1600 at least

As you said. It still baffles me to this day why people seem to be in the mindset, that the lower ISOs are better and they are afraid to push the capabilities of their cameras. Any respectable mid-range body nowadays should yield high-quality files at ISO1600. I rarely shoot below ISO800 and am mostly between that and ISO1600 at all times. Cheers mate. And thanks for the great files you sent the other day!

[Daniel Cadieux]

Unique scene with a fantastic setting, but I agree with the critiques above. Do not be afraid to raise the ISO...if my "lowly" 7DII can do the job at ISO 1600 then your capable D500 certainly can as well! Having said this, sharp images can be made at very low SS with proper technique, but you want to keep the odds on your side when the light permits it.

[Jay Shah]

Hello thank you all for very useful comments. One "excuse" I have for such low ISO and hence SS is, it was late afternoon on a partially cloudy day, so amount of light was changing quickly. So even though light was good when this image was made, SS was unnecessarily too low for the conditions..Instead of reworking on this image, I am posing below another image from this sequence. The settings are the same, but the image looks a bit sharper to me. Look forward to the comments.

Nikon D500, 600 mm F4 + 1.4 TC
1/100 s, f/8, ISO 360

[Bill Dix]

This one does look sharper to me, Jay. If the IQ would hold up it might be interesting to look at a vertical crop. The comp is interesting and the BG is gorgeous, but almost too much of a good thing? Still, remember that you can push the ISO on the D500 to 1600 and beyond.

[Jay Shah]

Thanks Bill. I do like your comment "too much of a good thing". I have a tendency to go over the top.