Grey-Headed Kingfisher
12/27/08 9:161 AM
Pagani Camp, along the Pagani River, Tanzania
Canon EOS-1D Mark III
One-Shot AF
Manual 1/200, f/8.0, ISO 800
Evaluative Metering
EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM +1.4x @ 560.0mm
3888x2592 RAW
WB Cloudy
Gitzo Systematic 3541LS tripod
Manfrotto 486RC2 ball head customized w/ Wimberley clamp
We arrived at our overnight tent camp along the Pagani River NE of Moshi during very high winds. In the middle of the night, with a horrendous crash, a large tree and a palm blew down, demolishing our fire pit just 20 feet from the tents. Thought I was going to become a grease spot! In the morning, glad along with everyone else to still be alive, I found this cooperative Grey-headed Kingfisher foraging for crickets (instead of fishing).
This is a colorful little guy. The tail overlapping the branch generally doesn't work well, but his is so colorful, it still stands out. The two small twigs jutting out by the tail catch my eye.
Thanks for sharing, and have a SAFE trip. Look forward to more images.
Great-looking bird, details and eye contact. Are kingfishers less skittish down there? I might try to get more details in the shadows by using curves and/or S/H. I'm glad no one was injured.
Sounds like a dramatic arrival, Craig. Glad all were safe. Nice alert pose. Light is a little harsh but you could possibly extract a bit more shadow detail. Some selective work on the eye to brighten it is a another possibility. These Kingfishers seldom fish and their main diet is insects and lizards despite their name.
Thank you all for your helpful comments. I've incorporated some in this modification. I have now selectively sharpened the head, bill and black back feathers. I upped both the highlights and shadows and darkened the midtones. This helped bring up more detail in the black feathers and subdued the BG a bit more. I also selectively brightened and adjusted contrast of the eye, exclusive of the catchlight. This increased the depth of the eye with a hint of pupil.
In retrospect, I think I prefer the head unsharpened -- it took a lot of fiddling (in Paintshop Pro 10), and and it gave the gray head feathers more of a "wire brush" look than I want. I was surprised how removing the few white dits from the back feathers and tail spiffed up the overall effect.
I decided not to do anything with the twig behind the tail, since as mentioned, the color difference saves it from merging. I think lightening the shadows also helped on this point, and for me the branch adds stability to the bird's position.
I guess it is time for me to take a deep breath and spring for CS4/ Lightroom.
Grey-headed Kingfisher, Tanzania
1 AM
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