Kingfisher

[Jonathan Michael Ashton]

At last I managed to get a shot of a Kingfisher, this is one of the images I most wanted to capture since I got my 500mm.
I think I can only just about post this as it is significantly cropped from the original but I would never the less appreciate any comments and critiques. When it was initially cropped it was 1343 x 1323 pixels, after processing I Sharpened once and cropped to 800 pixels, then I applied Noise Ninja to the background but not the foreground and I sharpened the bird using Smart sharpen.

Canon 20D Canon 500mm f4 plus Canon 1.4TC Mk1
ISO 200 +2/3
1/250 sec. @ F5.6

All comments and critiques are as ever most welcome

Jon

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Interesting pose and nice soft light. I might go for a tighter crop and apply more NR on the BG.

[James Salywoda]

A unique pose captured and pretty bg I would go for a tighter vertical crop off the top and right. Thanks For Sharing!

[Ramon M. Casares]

I like this compo, it is different, colors, pose and BG are great, I am not crazy about the perch though as it is too big for that tiny ball of feathers ;) Congratulations!

[Linda Robbins]

Congratulations on finally getting a kingfisher image. They are tough! I like the different pose you captured, and the BG is pretty. I would crop tighter.

[Jonathan Michael Ashton]

I agree a tighter crop would look better but I wa running short of pixels count so I left it as it was.
Jon