Sweet light Kingfisher

[Stu Bowie]

You cant ask for better light on a cold winter's morning last June. BG natural, and looking forward to going back to the Pilanesberg nature reserve, where this was taken, this coming Sunday. Wishing you all a Happy Easter.

Canon 50D
100-400 @ 400mm
1/800
F/6.3
ISO 800

Exp Comp 0
Hand Held

[Mark Schmitt]

Good resolution and accutance in this. Just a couple of minor observations: 1) in the lower portion of the pupil of the eye there appears to be some light, granular reflections that could easily be removed and the pupil made darker, giving more contrast between pupil and iris; 2) along the upper edge of the bill there looks to be a PP artifact, possibly from sharpening?. Otherwise, this is a fine image. Have fun in Pilanesberg. ;)

[Stu Bowie]

Mark, thanks a stack for your feedback, especially on the eye. Here is my repost with some eye doctor applied. The line above the bill is in the RAW file. Ive left as is.

[Axel Hildebrandt]

I like the head angle, eye contact, sharpness and BG. The re-worked pupil looks much better and I don't think the lighter area of the bill is a sharpening halo, probably just a reflection of the light. The whites are not overexposed but I might tone them down a bit more.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Mighty fine image Stuart, and the reworked eye looks great! Awesome BG and good perch, I would only clean up some of the OOF white specks on it. Happy Easter to you too:).

[Markus Jais]

Stuart, happ Easter to you too.
This is a great shot with beautiful light, excellent exposure and great BG. I like your composition and the catchlight in the eye.

Markus

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Stuart, this definitely has the WOW factor. Great light indeed. Loved the sharpness and the clean BG. Your pied kingfisher collection is quite impressive. And considering everything is at or less than 400mm, well thats just great work IMO. I find shooting anything other than water birds in the field quite hard at 400mm. even on a cropper.

[James Salywoda]

What can I say other then this is spectacular awesome image Stuart.

[Doug Brown]

The title says it all. I dream of getting a Kingfisher image such as this one some day. I like the eye in the repost.

[denise ippolito]

Stuart, The repost is fantastic! I love the sharp details and the BG really adds to the image. Nicely done.

[Stephen Stephen]

Stuart the original was good but I love the repost. Light BG, Head Angle all come together nicely.

[Steve Canuel]

Sweet shot Stuart. Repost looks even better. And a Happy Easter to you as well.

[Gerrie van Vuuren]

Great Mankwe BG & exposure! Agree second post looks better.:)

It's been raining up here for three days solid & right now my mood is as foul as the weather! Forecast is for more to come.:(

[arash_hazeghi]

Excellent resolution and details in this one Stuart and what a sweet light, repost is super congrats.

[Stu Bowie]

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