Kingfisher juvenile

[Steve Kaluski]

Again, taking a day out from the hefty work schedule I revisited the Kingfisher/Sparrow Hawk site, and again, it rained, dried up but heavy low cloud not ideal but... Sparrow hawk never showed but the juvenile Kingfisher did. He/she gave fleeting perch time, but all in seconds, rarely did the Kingfisher stay more than 5-8 seconds and so it was grab and go with the frames, plus with two perches you never knew where it would land. The female was around and if seen by the juvenile it just jabbered away demanding to be fed.

Thanks to those who commented or viewed the last posting.

Steve

Subject: Kingfisher (juvenile) (Alcedo atthis)
Location: UK
Camera: Canon EOS R3
Lens: EF200-400mm f/4L IS USM EXT
Exposure: 1/640s at f/6.3 ISO6400 EV -1.67 Auto ISO
Original format: Landscape, almost FF, a sliver off the top, FF width
Processed via: LRCC 11.5 & PSCC 23.5

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Steve ... at least the KF showed up , good to have the option at that location .

Nice solid image of the KF with a pleasing perch and a nice head turn .
Colors and tones looking good for the darkish location ( guessing ) , albeit I might change two tiny things . Burn the bright area on RHS of the perch and give the KF a bit more brightness in the mid to darker tones .

If this was mine I would not accept the posterization in the BG .

TFS Andreas

[Steve Kaluski]

Andrea’s, shoot dark green/contrasty vegetation in low light and hi ish ISO, let me know how you get on.

It’s minimal issue IMHO.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Andrea’s, shoot dark green/contrasty vegetation in low light and hi ish ISO, let me know how you get on.

It’s minimal issue IMHO.

Without any posterization .... in the output file . Lighting and ISO values even worse ....

[Steve Kaluski]

Well let’s delete it!

[Jonathan Ashton]

Looks pretty darned good to me, the colours appear very realistic, exposure spot on. I was surprised you needed to underexpose by as much as 1.67, the background must have been pretty dark. If I really look hard I can detect polarisation, I can induce it - but I don't see the need. I think it is a very accurate representation of the scene. Probably (and only because mentioned) I would consider darkening the naked branch area on the rhs but I think otherwise rinky tinky.
I am guessing this is at the Sparrowhawk hide location in Yorkshire?

[Steve Kaluski]

If I really look hard I can detect polarisation

It's due to 4k monitors

I was surprised you needed to underexpose by as much as 1.67, the background must have been pretty dark.

Obviously I have the need to expand further...

Auto ISO is controlled by the EV, camera is on the Flexline pro ball head the best ball head on the market, R3 is coupled with the the Canon TC-80N3 remote switch, frame rate set to the highest 30FPS, but around 22, Electronic shutter. So all in all I'm OK on low SS, I am exposing ETTR, but to stop the burnout of the white flash I have to dial down Exp comp to -1.67. Hope this helps Jon, will send you a diving shot, pin sharp at similar techs.

[William Dickson]

Hi Steve....I really like the dk BG against the bird.....The posterisation on the iMac is minimal, and I prob wouldn't have noticed, if not mentioned....The perch, especially the greens nearest the bird, and the birds feet appear slightly sharper than the bird....could be the natural softness of the feathers....Lovely colours throughout....

Will

[arash_hazeghi]

nice frame Steve, like everything here only wish for a slight head tilt towards us

the BG compression is visible but not much you can when posting compressed 8bit images


TFS