Touch Down

[Stu Bowie]

Over time, I will admit that I have mastered the take off shots of kingfishers, mainly Giant and Pied Kingfishers. When they take off, they normally fly away for a little while. Now landing is a whole new game. One doesnt actually know where they will land, so its pretty much luck that you are ready for a certain perch. Having said that, Im pretty happy with this landing, right in front of me. I wish the left wing was more spread. This is a female Giant Kingfisher, taken in the Pilanesberg nature reserve about a month ago.

Canon 50D
100-400@ 400mm
1/2000
F/5.6
ISO 640

Exp Comp +0.67
Hand Held

[Harshad Barve]

Stuartbhai ,

You with Gerrie and Morkelbhai killing us with some gorgeous shots of KF's , This is no exception , Terrific shot
TFS

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Sharpness, BG and feet about to grab the perch make this one for me and I agree that it would have put it over the top if we could see the underside of the near wing, too. You got a pretty good location there.

[Randy Stout]

Stuart:
Lovely colors in bird and background. I esp. like the tail flare and feathers leading to it.

Now, if you would just break off that last little bit of perch so it didn't block the wing so much:D

I wish our kingfishers would cooperate!

Cheers

Randy

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hey Stuart, very impressive landing image!! Not easy to pull off. Awesome perch and BG. If anything Imight pull off the contrast a bit. Yes a more open front wing would have been the bomb...but that would be asking for too much now wouldn't it!:p

[Krijn Trimbos]

Agree with the rest regarding the perch, but love the quality of light and colours here. Nice BG as well. Cool shot!

[Fabs Forns]

Great capture in sweet light. Agree on your self assessment of the wing, and love the fanned tail and colors.

[Nicki Gwynn Jones]

Stuart, I'd be so happy to have this one in my collection :) Love the quality of light and the colours and I really don't mind the perch. BG is lovely too.

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Stunning image Stuart and wonderful timing. Love the beautiful BG that sets this beauty off. Everything else has been mentioned . Big congrats !!!

[arash_hazeghi]

very nice pose and BG Stuart, well done

[Arthur Morris]

Killer colors, outstretched feet, light, and sharpness on the face. Amazing how much motion blur in the far wing at 1/2000.

Please share with us how you focused this one.

[Eric Diller]

Fantastic capture.....well captured and the colors are so vivid!

[Stu Bowie]

Killer colors, outstretched feet, light, and sharpness on the face. Amazing how much motion blur in the far wing at 1/2000.

Please share with us how you focused this one.

Thank you Artie. With these type of shots, I always use my center focussing point, and I remember seeing her coming, and there werent too many perches for her to choose from. This all happens so fast, and this was the frame which managed to lock focus.

Thank you all for the kind words. Always appreciated.

[Kiran Poonacha]

Nicely done bhai, all said above, I loved the light and details here..

[Arthur Morris]

Thank you Artie. With these type of shots, I always use my center focussing point, and I remember seeing her coming, and there werent too many perches for her to choose from. This all happens so fast, and this was the frame which managed to lock focus. Thank you all for the kind words. Always appreciated.

Thanks Stu. I was thinking that you might have pre-focused on the perch and gone to manual focus. Just curious. What you did is more difficult....

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks Stu. I was thinking that you might have pre-focused on the perch and gone to manual focus. Just curious. What you did is more difficult....

Artie, thanks. As there are numerous places to land/perch, one cant really pre-focus, coz we dont know where the blighters are going. Should I say this was luck;)

[Arthur Morris]

If you locked focus as you did, that is not luck....

[Nico Steenberg]

Great timing and comp. Subject is sharp and exposed with good colours against a killer Mankwe bg. Well done Stu !

[Stu Bowie]

Artie, Nico, thanks a stack.