These guys are really fairly small. My good mate Gerrie gave me a go with his 600mm lens, to try and achieve a decent image from these little guys. I was also fortunate that the BG was as shot, as these guys tend to perch in busy BG's. The BG is OOF water.
I like the clean BG, nice light, and excellent sharpness. I wish the bird occupied more of the frame, although I do like the look of a small kingfisher on the end of a long slender perch. I'd still be tempted to crop the bright part of the perch at the bottom of the frame. Beautiful bird!
Great colors and light, Stuart! You have a nice smooth BG and a nice perch. I would have liked a pose that showed more of the tail and eye but I like it as is. I love the vibrant blues, oranges and greens.
Beautiful, Stuart. My favorite image of yours! I really like the gray/blue background and the way you've composed it shows the relative smallness of the bird, but agree with Doug on a small crop from the bottom. I think I'm seeing some wide halos, esp around the base of the perch. Do you have more of this species?
Another superb kingfisher image and species Stuart. A very simple and efective composition. Nice pose of the bird with the ruffled feathers and the great eye contact.
I like the KF's relatively small stature in the frame, and I like that you tucked in the ULC on top of the long slender perch...works for me. You were playing with fire handholding this set-up with only ISO 200! Don't be afraid to raise it a bit to give yourself more wiggle room when it comes to equipment shake (although sharpeness as posted looks great) :-)
A real jewel of an image ,and how perfectly well named is the subject kingfisher posted here.
One might be tempted to crop a little more off the bottem of his perch
Beautiful Stuart - you've really captured the essence of this little bird as I remember it - a jewel of colour sitting on an improbably small perch gently swaying in the breeze.
Stuart
Beautiful bird, perfect exposure, lovely Bkgd, and excellent sharpness
This becomes an exercise in cropping/composition. Your other two choices were add more blue Bkgd on top putting the bird in LLC or crop more off the bottom and right side creating more of a vertical composition with the bird in the centre or slightly to the left
Because the lower perch doesn't add anything to the photo for me , I'd concur with Doug and Glenda for a tighter crop focusing on the bird - but it becomes personal preferences
Either way , a great picture - nicely done and thanks for sharing
Peter