Elusive Belted Kingfisher
This photo of the female Belted Kingfisher was taken at the Viera Wetlands the morning of February 18, 2009.
Camera - Nikon D200
Lens - Nikon 500mm f-4 manual focus
Teleconverter - Nikon 1.4X
Format - RAW
ISO - 400
Speed - 1/1250 sec
Aperture - f-8
The image was capture from my car window with camera resting on beanbag
I used Lightroom 2 to crop, enhance tonal range, sharpen image.
This photo was cropped to 12% of its original size.
I would appreciate critiques on this photo.
Thanks, ADubin
I like the eye contact and BG. Do you mean you cropped 12% or is this 12% of the full frame? I would crop a bit off the bottom, add some on the right, sharpen the bird and run NR on the BG.
It is 12% of the full frame.
Originally Posted by Axel Hildebrandt
It is quite a big crop Arnold. You can tell because of the noise in the background. I do like your pose and positioning here. Maybe try posting a 50% crop for comparison? I bet you will get more details and better image quality. Just my 2 cents. I was just at Viera last week. I did not see any Kingfishers.
Is there way I can post a photo I modified on this thread? ADubin
You can reply to your own thread and upload a repost. It's always good to keep the original image so that viewers can compare the versions.
Repost of the Elusive Belted Kingfisher
I used NIK to reduce the noise in the BG. I re-cropped per Axel's recommendation. Let me know what you think of my re-post photo now. Thanks ADubin
Some type of noise bottom middle to right hand side.
Nicely done! And I know that bird. Very predictable. But, I would back off a bit on the crop to reduce the noise and increase the sharpness. To get an idea of the crop I mean look at my website, from below, and under the recent gallery. I have images of her with similiar equipment, but with a D300 and the AFS II version of the 500. Also, although I use a D300 now, when I did use a D200, I would try to keep the iso at 320 or below again, also to reduce the noise factor. And, I use NX2, but I go back after cropping and use selective high pass sharpening just on the subject. So far, every morning that I have been to Viera the past month she is on that same near perch, but only very first thing in the am. After that she stays in the middle or far stumps.
Last edited by Nancy A Elwood; 02-20-2009 at 09:57 PM.
Nancy, Thank you for your advice. I met you out at the Wetlands in July of 2008 and we exchanged a couple Emails. I will probably run into you again since I'm out there at least once a week. I also have a Website setup with my photos. If you have a chance you can take a look at it. It is http://www.dubinphotography.net/Nature. Have a great day, ADubin
Axel, Thank you for providing me your critique. ADubin
Grady Weed, Thank you for your inputs, ADubin
Art Kornienko, Thank you for your comments, ADubin
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