I was driving around checking out photo ops at a local lake for birds and managed to get this shot of the BKF and it was on my list of Birds I haven't yet taken.
The day was overcast and shot was hand held using my 600 mm and MKIII
Exif is:
ISO 400
F/4
shutter 1/800
Lens Canon 600 F/4
Body 1DMKIII
I"ll sure be glad when it warms up and stays nice and we do get some nice sunny days.
A good looking bird. Always fun to catch a new one on your list. I am impressed you can handhold a 600.
Nice head angle, open beak a plus.
Light does look fairly soft, but to my eye the whites on the neck and probably part of the breast, are blown, can't see much detail.
The background color is very nice, but the sticks are a bit of a distraction. I might suggest trying a crop in from the left as far as you can go without crowding the bird. I would consider removing the stick in RUC and toning down or removing the brighter stick pointing in from the right towards his bill.
Cropping and cloning are very individualistic choices, but I think some changes might strengthen the image.
Very nice catch, and especially impressive handholding a 600! I'd second Randy's suggestions. Cropping in from the left to remove the bigger sticks will help a lot. I'd also clone out the stick that is stabbing him in the back.
One other observation, on my home computer with a better monitor, there is some noise evident in the background, so I would consider a round of noise reduction there only.
Congratulations on capturing this gorgeous kingfisher. The guys raised some solid improvement suggestions. Why not try to implement them and see the result if you like it? :) Thanks for posting.
My First Belted King Fisher
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