Kingfisher

[Raymond Barlow]

1/400s f/8.0 at 550.0mm iso250
D300 / 200-400 VR + 1.4 tc
tripod, natural light, slight crop.
hide

12 hours in the hide, with not much happening, and then I was
lucky with some nice late pm light, and my favourite visitor...
too bad he missed on the dive., Next time!

The bark on the perch was torn, so a little cloning repair.

[Chad Griggs]

You got a great pic here! Very sharp, great background, great light. Very nice.

[Arthur Morris]

Sharp, sharp, sharp with a lovely BKGR. If it is your blind I would replace the perch with a smaller more attractive one. If you placed the new perch about six inches lower you would move the dark BKGR line to the top of the frame. The area around the eye could stand to be a bit lighter. A bit more head turn towards you would have been ideal.

[titus.ebbecke]

Yes it´s great. Nice pose and very sharp!

[Kobus Tollig]

Ditto all Arthur said. Still well done I think it pops great

[denise ippolito]

Raymond, These guys don't wait around for a photo- Very nice and sharp. Beautiful BG.

[Graham Smith.]

12 hours?! that's some good patience. Very nice result though! As Arthur mentioned, I think a little lightening of the eye would be really nice.

[Raymond Barlow]

thanks everyone.., yes 12 hours, but three trips... 2, 6, and 4 hours... there is an old dead tree lying in the water, these birds come into the surrounding trees, and usually perch up high, but once in a while, they will come down and be closer to the water... there are several places for them to perch, and we can't have the perfect bg with all of them., so there is some luck involved!

take care.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks for the info Raymond; is it your blind on your property?

[Raymond Barlow]

Thanks for the info Raymond; is it your blind on your property?

Thank You Artie., no, this blind is at a local park.

[Mike Lentz]

Solid! I'm a bit jealous as this is one of my nemesis species!

[Arthur Morris]

Thank You Artie., no, this blind is at a local park.

Ah, all is not lost. Several times, in similar situations, I have been granted permission to enter closed areas, remove large less-than-ideal perches, and erect pleasing perches in the perfect position. In exchange I donated photos and cleaned the area of litter and other debris. I did of course enlist the help of a friend or two. It might be worth a try.

It was all done with the aim of creating better images. An image of a Northern Flicker that I created at Big John's Pond, Jamaica Bay WR in NYC as it sat on a lovely perch that I had erected wound up being my first Birder's World cover. The perch--of weather wood--was so lovely that a woman wrote to the editor and stated that they should not feature images of birds on artificially created perches made of ceramic!

[Karl Egressy]

Great shot, Ray. Love it!!!

[Raymond Barlow]

Ah, all is not lost. Several times, in similar situations, I have been granted permission to enter closed areas, remove large less-than-ideal perches, and erect pleasing perches in the perfect position. In exchange I donated photos and cleaned the area of litter and other debris. I did of course enlist the help of a friend or two. It might be worth a try.

It was all done with the aim of creating better images. An image of a Northern Flicker that I created at Big John's Pond, Jamaica Bay WR in NYC as it sat on a lovely perch that I had erected wound up being my first Birder's World cover. The perch--of weather wood--was so lovely that a woman wrote to the editor and stated that they should not feature images of birds on artificially created perches made of ceramic!

thanks for the advice Artie, and for the follow up., I like the idea of doing a set up perch for this bird., the problem is these birds are super skittish up here, if your walking, the best you can do with them is about 60 yards., and when in a hunters hide, they might come into about 10 yards if you are very lucky.

Also, this is a huge massive pond, with small trees all around the perimeter, and these bird perch in all of them!, so having them choose the set up perch is a tough one., but might be worth a try.

thanks very much!

[Arthur Morris]

YAW. And yes, kingfishers are a real pain. There was one at Merritt Island NWR this year that let you get out of the car and walk up to it but it sat on the ugliest perches known to mankind.

[Raymond Barlow]

YAW. And yes, kingfishers are a real pain. There was one at Merritt Island NWR this year that let you get out of the car and walk up to it but it sat on the ugliest perches known to mankind.

Artie, you are such a fine character, to come back to this thread and follow up once again, very good of you, and much appreciated.

Indeed, the kingfisher is a different bird., but it is the challenge that captivates me., when I first started in this wildlife photography, I found these birds regularly in a local creek., D70, and a 70-300 ED ... Many hours hiking up and down, trying to catch a shot, and nothing.

These recent images make up for all that, kind of like winning a competition!

These days I am not out shooting too much, as I spend almost every minute learning to market myself, and make a living at this business, I am very sure you know what I am going through, it is the ultimate challenge.


best regards.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Ray,

re:

Artie, you are such a fine character, to come back to this thread and follow up once again, very good of you, and much appreciated.

:) and thanks. I will admit to being somewhat of a character.

Indeed, the kingfisher is a different bird., but it is the challenge that captivates me., when I first started in this wildlife photography, I found these birds regularly in a local creek., D70, and a 70-300 ED ... Many hours hiking up and down, trying to catch a shot, and nothing.

Been there, done that.

These recent images make up for all that, kind of like winning a competition!

I am glad for you.

These days I am not out shooting too much, as I spend almost every minute learning to market myself, and make a living at this business, I am very sure you know what I am going through, it is the ultimate challenge.

Yes, making a living at this has very little to do with the quality of your images, but is somewhat a function of effort and determination. On the other hand, somebody once said, "If you are not out making images you are not making money."

Good luck on all counts!

I should have mentioned as far as setting up a perch: if you are gonna sit in a blind for days hoping that a bird comes to your perch you might as well be sitting in front of a perfect perch (if possible).