Excited Pied Kingfisher

[Stu Bowie]

The hide where we photograph from in the Pilanesberg National Park, is surrounded by fossilized trees, so unfortunately there are no 'smaller ' perches. This Pied Kingfisher seemed quite excited showing off his open beak, and he must have just preened himself, as his beak is full of left over plumage. I thought I would leave as is. Taken early morning.

Canon 1D Mark IV
Canon 500 F/4
1/2000
F/7.1
ISO 640

Hand Held

[gail bisson]

Are you getting tired of me "oohing and aahhing" over the great BG at Pilanesburg!
Excellent exposure on the bird and perfect head turn.The exposure is good but I feel you could go a bit brighter (say +5, so not much) with the entire image but mask out the whites on the face.
Love the calling pose and I am glad you left the feathers in the beak.
The perch is a bit large but it looks OK because he is sitting on that little knob which lifts him nicely away from the bigger area.
Gail

[Bill Dix]

Lovely light, great open-beak pose. Gotta love that tongue. And the great BG, as you say. No problem with the perch.

[William Dickson]

Ohhh a Beauty. What a fabulous pose, HA and BG. I like the perch. Beautiful piece of wood, I may even sharpen it a little. Well done Stu.

Will

[Tim Foltz]

Stu, wonderful shot, I'll I would do is move it up a hair in frame and get rid of the mouth feathers, but it's not a deal breaker.
Very nice, killer mottled BG.

-Tim

[Isaac Grant]

Man would I love to spend some time at that place. This is really nice Stu. Beautiful image quality and a great calling pose. I think it is great as is and would leave the feathers for sure. Amazing background and the colors look perfect, unlike whatever happened on the one that you posted with the 400 2.8 and that weird haze issue that lens had. I don't think I've seen you post with a 500 before. New lens or you just mostly use the 300 2.8?

[Glenn Pure]

Gee, I wish I'd got a pied kingfisher shot like that Stu. This one is an absolute beauty. I actually like the perch in this one, especially with the bird on the little knob at the top. The open bill is excellent and background and pose hard to beat. Exposure and brightness of the bird look good to me but I suspect brightening the background would really give this a boost.

[David Salem]

This one looks fantastic Stu. I love the pose and the beautiful details. The background is awesome.
I thought I had great backgrounds.
I would definitely leave the feather in and I too like the naturally knarled perch. Very nice one

[Stu Bowie]

I don't think I've seen you post with a 500 before. New lens or you just mostly use the 300 2.8?

Thanks Isaac. Unfortunately the 500mm was just a lens I used for the day. I have a friend who has a lens rent business as a side line, and every time we go up to Pilanesberg, he brings along a few spare lens for us to pick and choose.

[Dorian Anderson]

This is great. I really like the smooth but color-varied background. Calling pose really makes this special.

[John Whaley]

Awesome capture Stu. Light, background and calling pose all working together. I don't know how shy they are there but one of the most elusive species here.

[Jay Shah]

Great image Stu. To me, tongue looks like a fish about to go down the throat.

[annmpacheco]

Well Stu what a pleasant surprise to find this image I had overlooked, its wonderful. Alls been said but i love the calling pose and the fabulous BG, what a frame you have here.