Belted Kingfisher

[Edward Fisher]

I parked my car near a perch used by a pair of local kingfishers this morning, (because it was raining),and this is an image made during that time.



Canon 50D, 500mm f4.5 L lens, ISO 800, f5.6 @ 1/320 sec., manual exposure, Topaz Denoise

[Mike Milicia]

I'd say that you have found an excellent parking spot!

Love the effect of the overcast light and excellent detail and BG.
Nicely done!

Might tone down the neck just a tad.

[Dave Barnes]

I like the IQ and detail captured. I would run a bit more NR on the BG.
Good one thanks for sharing.

[David Fletcher]

Lovely IQ and as Dave said, the neck could do with a tad toning down and some nr on the bg. Like the head angle Ed. Nice shot!

[Peter Wallack]

Thanks for the best detailed image of this species I have seen yet. My experience with this species is that they are quite skittish. A how you got so close would be appreciated.

[Randy Stout]

Edward:

A very nice shot of a difficult bird to approach. The original is very nice, perhaps a bit too dark as presented, although I know the day was probably dim. I agree about more NR on the BG.

I took a minute to tweak it just a bit, to help the bird stand out a bit more from the background. I also lowered the brightness of the neck. It was highest value of 253, and now peaks at about 247.

Just some options. Oh yeah, I also reduced the brightness of the lower part of the branch, which was bright enough to draw my eye.

Cheers

Randy

[Edward Fisher]

Thanks everyone for the nice comments, and thanks, Randy for tweaking the image. It made quite a difference.