Woodland kingfisher

[Jonathan Ashton]

Canon 1DX Canon 500m f4 L IS II ISO 2500, 1/400 sec f8
ACR + PSCC

One little bird I was hoping to photograph, I was surprised at how obliging they could be at times.

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Great capture, Jonathan. The IQ is top notch especially on this overcast day. Exceptional detail on the bird and the beautiful lichen covered perch. Outstanding detail in the blacks and shadows and lovely BG. Like that you kept the strands of cobweb in.

Geoffrey




http://500px.com/geoffreymontagu

[keith mitchell]

Hi Jon,this is absolutely super,bird looks perfect and all set on a lovely bg.

Keith.

[William Dickson]

Looking good. I like the BG colours which blend real well with the bird and perch. Nice details on the bird, good HA. f/8 got good detail in the perch as well. 1/400 was taking a chance, but it looks like it worked here. Not like our KFs then, off like a bullet, as soon as they see you.

Nice one Jon.

Will

[John Mack]

Love that lichen covered perch. Great detail throughout this. Killer green background as well.

[John Rowell]

Beautiful capture. When I first saw the thumbnail, my thought was that the perch was too heavy. In the full image, I've changed my mind and like the scale the branch and lichens add to show off the very small size of this little guy. Terrific background as well.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Jon, very nice indeed.

Killer perch and from the looks of the exposure, slightly overcast conditions which meant things were in your favour. The cobwebs are a nice touch too. Not sure how much you have to play with, but as an alternative how about pushing things up in the frame a tad more????

Seems you now have things 'more' under control by the looks of the posting, well done, keep it going.

TFS
Steve

[Glenn Pure]

Nothing I can fault here Jon. This one looks first class. First rate IQ and detail with lovely definition and form across the bird and its plumage from the dark feathers to the whites. Perch and pose are excellent and background as good as it gets with contrasting colour to make the bird and perch pop really well. I'm guessing from Will's comments this one is from your Africa trip? Please let us know location on future shots.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks very much everyone,glad you liked it. Will I photographed the kingfisher using a variety of shutter speeds. Glenn yes this is Kruger Park.

[David Salem]

Wow Jonathan that is one solid frame. Not much more I can say except very well done. Everything looks great. Print!

[Jonathan Ashton]

Wow Jonathan that is one solid frame. Not much more I can say except very well done. Everything looks great. Print!

David, I hadn't thought of that, but good idea I'll knock one out tomorrow!

[Isaac Grant]

Very pretty shot here. Nice pose, perch and background. The fact that it is a kingfisher makes it even cooler. I really like the cobwebs. You have a very nice photo here but I think you could make a few enhancements to it to really take it over the top. Overall I find the bird a bit thin and lacking some of the rich tones that this bird should have. I think if you up the exposure a little, increased the blacks using levels, upped the saturation a little and pushed up the reds then your photo would really come to life. I think working in that light is really difficult and people are tentative to really push the file but if you do that little extra I think those subtle changes will have a big impact.

[Isaac Grant]

I wanted to give you an idea of what I was talking about so did a quick version where I cropped some off of the bottom and left so the bird was not so centered. Then did what I said above with minor tweaks to saturation, exposure, brought out the reds and upped the blacks. Then applied some NR to the background as it got too noisy after the adjustments.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks Isaac, I see what you intended.

[Bill Dix]

Terrific capture, Jonathan. Love the head turn, the perch and its cobwebs, perfect bg and soft light. When I first saw it I thought it didn't quite capture the vibrance of these noisy little guys. Their color can be just brilliant, although I understand that varies with the light. Isaac's RP does it justice.