Hungry Pied kingfisher

[Stu Bowie]

Taken in the Pilanesberg, a nature reserve 180km north of Johannesburg. Believe it or not, after a bit of hitting against the perch, this fish went down the hatch. The light wasnt that great.

Canon 50D
100-400 L IS USM FL 400mm
1/500
F/8
ISO500
Exp comp -0.33

[Dan Walker]

Thats a big meal. I like the BG and pose. would like to see some more room on top and maybe a tad brighter.

[Randy Stout]

Stuart:

Great action capture. Its amazing he could down it, and even more amazing that he could fly with that much extra weight!

The exposure looks good, head angle good, background works for me. I love the scales popped off the fish stuck to the beak.

The perch is a bit overwhelming here and might consider a crop in from the left to convert it to a vertical.

I think the image could be posted just a bit brighter as well.

Thanks so much for sharing!

Randy

[Mike Lentz]

I would just lighten around the eye. The comp and colors are nice.
That looks like one bad tasting fish, better have a breath mint handy. :D

[Stephen Earle]

I love the roughness of the fish here Stu. Difficult comp here with the large perch but perhaps some of the bottom and more on top.

[Beth Goffe]

Something about the crop was bothering me but I couldn't put my finger on it until I read Randy's suggestion. It seems like all of the action is located on the right side of the frame so changing this to a vertical might help balance the image. Otherwise, great capture and eye contact!

[Tony Whitehead]

I like this as presented, Stuart. The perch is prominent but has interesting textures and the scales all along tell the story of it being a regularly used spot. The only thing that bothers me with it is that the upper edge is sharp and the whole lower edge looks soft as though you have made a selection to blur the BG and caught the lower edge of the perch in the selection. Light looks nice and soft - some flash fill may have thrown a little light into the darker areas. That is one ugly fish though - glad it's not on my menu:D

[Randy Stout]

Stuart:

I respect Tony's opinion, but thought I would throw this out for the groups consideration. Cropped, and brightened just a bit. I think it brings up the eye a little.

Randy

[Loukie Viljoen]

Well caught Stuart, VWD

[Stu Bowie]

Thank you all for the kind words. Much appreciated.