HNY Paul! Nice pose on a thickish branch. Mangrove leaves are a good habitat touch.
The bird looks a bit dark and I'm sure there is more color to bring out.
According to Birdlife Aus this would be a Forest Kingfisher.
HNY Paul to you as well ..
A nice frame to start into 2023 .
Nice loooking subject in perfectly framed image , i do like the leafs in the BG and the smooth BG .
Details and tones looking quite good , just the blacks are too strong masking details in the head / beak .... check the histogram of your master file . The breast does contain too much blue/cyan IMHO , but i could be wrong and the breast is natural color .
Thanks Colin and Andreas...appreciate the feedback.
Colin: yes, forgot to mention the type of Kingfisher...thanks.
Andreas: Yes to the blues/cyans issue. I did correct it after posting! Should have waited to post
Last edited by Paul Burdett; 01-02-2023 at 03:33 AM.
Perch is just high enough that the leaves fit under it nicely. Setting and pose are very nice. I also like the wider composition. Agree with the point about lifting the shadows/blacks on the lores. The whole image does look a bit grainy. Not sure why that is at ISO 1600 though. But a really pleasing image of a cool bird.