Perched Pied

[Stu Bowie]

Just a Pied Kingfisher perched against a colourful BG. One is always guaranteed wonderful colourful BG's from the Mankwe hide in the Pilanesberg nature reserve. This BG is natural, and from early morning light.

Canon 50D
100-400 @ 365mm
1/1600
F/5.6
ISO 500

Exp Comp 0
Hand held

[Steve Maxson]

What an amazing beak this bird has, Stuart - it looks like it would be front-end heavy. :) I like the diagonal perch and the way the bird stands out nicely from the background in this beautiful light. I also like the pose with the bird looking out of the frame to the left. As an alternate crop, you might take a little off the left while still leaving plenty of space for the bird to look into.

[Danny Laredo]

Stuart, this is very nice indeed. Lovely pose BG and perch. I would consider a slight crop from the left.

[Elmar Venter]

Eish, its nice. Beautiful perch, background, subject and sharpness. Also very good to know you do not need 500/600mm to get shots like these at Mankwe. Where do you get most of your shots with 400mm - from within the hide or from the walkway to the hide?

[Stu Bowie]

Steve, Danny, Elmar, thanks for your great feedback guys.

Elmar, one can get shots from within the hide, left, center and right, and there are a lot of opportunities from the walkway too.

[Jim Crosswell]

Great image Stuart! I like the sharpness, BG and perch.

[Dave Leroy]

Lovely shot.
I like the nice warm feel to the bg and the light; it feels like a nice warm morning.
I also like the contrast between the black and white of the sharp bird and the warm golden bg.
Such a nice photo that this crop or one with a bit off left would work equally well for me.
Dave

[Rob Miner]

Like your bird - like your bkgrn. My vision of this shot would be portrait - cropping Lt. & Rt., adding canvass to top (more) and bottom (little bit.)

Great shot! (always wanted to say that.)

Rob.................

[Jean Chang]

Just a Pied Kingfisher...

"JUST" a pied kingfisher?? My gosh, this is gorgeous! I love everything about it. The background is simply beautiful, and you caught the blacks and whites perfectly. I agree a tad could come off the left, but I would be super proud of this shot if it were mine.

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Stuart, I actually like the crop with that much empty space. If the bird would have turned the head slightly towards you, then I'd have suggested some crop there. But since it is looking straight out, I think extra space adds a lot. Awesome perch and sharpness. Have you tried a lower contrast version with even more black details?

[Stu Bowie]

Thank you all so much for the kind words. Here is my repost due to a popular vote to crop in from the left.

KD, I have brought out, both the blacks and whites on the KF.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the perch, look-back pose, sharpness and BG. I agree on taking off a bit on the left but not quite as much as in your repost.

[Steve Canuel]

Hi Stuart,
I enjoy seeing this bird, handsome species. Nice sharpness and detail. Also like the pose, perch, and contrast with the BG color. Prefer the original comp but agree with Axel on somewhere in between.

[Manjesh Lingamurthy]

Hi Stuart

I like the cropped version. Nice details on the bird. Beautiful background and warm light.

Manjesh

[Ilija Dukovski]

I love the original post. No cropping for me please:)
This is wonderful, the BG, bird and that massive bill,
perch is excellent fit for the bird. I can't decide
if just a tiny bit of HA would make it better or not?
Excellent one.

[Kiran Poonacha]

Repost looks good Bhai, loved the compo an BG very much...

[Markus Jais]

Wonderful shot. Fantastic background. Great perch and wonderful composition. I like the repost even more.
Wonderful sharpness and perfect exposure.

Markus

[arash_hazeghi]

Very nice Stuart, love the details, perch BG and head turn, I like the original minus a tiny bit from the left.

[Betsie Storm]

Lovely take on the PKF, Stuart. I like this view showing the beak length as well as the eye clearly, and of course that BG. Congrats! Personal pref is the OP.

[Mark Dumbleton]

Stu, I think the repost works better, although I have nothing wrong with the original. Lovely colourful BG contrasting against the monochromatic colours of the PK.

[Stu Bowie]

Thank you all so much for the kind words. Much appreciated.

[D. Robert Franz]

Great image. Really enjoyed Pilansburg... Love to come back.

[Vida van der Walt]

Wonderful image Stu. The crisp black and white of the bird pops against that beautiful warm bg. Pin sharp and I like the comp but agree that something in between the original and repost will be even better.:)