Male Belted Kingfisher

[Nancy A Elwood]

I was out at Merritt island yesterday to see what was happening. Not really too much, but did catch this one,which I was pleased with. I am trying a new plug in for CS3 by alien skin called brokeh. It is suppose to give you a more natural brokeh, as opposed to trying the blur by hand method. It has quite a few setting and adjustments and so far I like it. It did help me on this one for the greenery was quite close and I wanted to seem like a large aperture. This one taken with the D300, Nikon 500 f4 with 1.4TC, f7.1, iso 800, 1/2500. C&C as always welcomed.:)

[Fabs Forns]

Great catch, Nancy, the ever elusive "Evil" bird :)
He laughs at you as he flies by, making fun of your lens, that's why he is THE evil bird.
Nice composition and framing by the leaves. I'd try to get some of the green out, since the reflection is affecting the whites.

[Nancy A Elwood]

Thanks Fabs! They do seem to tease you, then off they go, AFTER you have set up and are ready to shoot :D. I will look at the greens.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Great find and eye contact. I might sharpen the bird a bit more or is it a heavy crop?

[Nancy A Elwood]

Thanks Axel. It is a bit of a crop, so I sharpened as much as I thought I could, but might try more.

[Stu Bowie]

The KF pops from the foliage nicely, and what a perfect pose. Well captured Nancy.

[Rene A]

Nancy,

Beautiful catch..tag sharp on my 1920x1200 Hdmi 1080p 37" monitor...I even see the "evil" look..like Fabs mentions..I have one here who has been teasing me for 2 months now...but I'll get with my big 500 gun
when he is not looking:))

Great shoot..