Malachite Kingfisher

[Ken Watkins]

On the Lake Manze channel in Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania, Malachites are not at all rare, or twitchy. It is cerainly the best place I have ever been to see them, we got so close that I had to abandon my 500m for a 300mm in order to focus:D

ROS 1D MkIV

500mm F4 hand held from drifting boat

F5.6, ISO 800, 1/640

[Ben_Sadd]

Ken,

Great sharpness and a very nice looking bird. I know this bird has extremely strong colours, but I still feel that some of the reds are a little oversaturated. While the values for white nape patch look ok when I open this up in PS, this area still appears a little hot and lacking in detail. I would like to see a little more space, especially to the left of the bird. I guess that is also why you ended up taking out the 300mm later on. Cleaning up the long protruding twig on the perch would also help the image.

[Paul Randall]

Agree with Bens evaluation of the image. Reds could be pulled back a bit, touch more room on the left and twig clean up. Plus sides? Awesome sharpness, fantastic BG, exposure spot on and an absolutely stunning subject, well done:D

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Ken, as these guys are extremely small,so Im glad you could get close. Typical fishing pose looking for his next meal, and overall nice and sharp. I noticed a slight magenta cast, so did a quick job of removing it, and desaturated the reds a tad. Hope you dont mind.

[James Salywoda]

Gorgeous I like Stuarts repost I'm not a big fan of the composition as its just a bit tight for me but love the bird.

[Ken Watkins]

Stuart,

Thanks for the repost, I think somewhere around half way between on the reds would be OK to me

I am not a fan of cosmetic cloning, the small twigs re IMHO not distracting, this is a reasonable facsimile of a Malachite's perch, and they are usually a lot more cluttered than this.

[Juan Carlos Vindas]

Stunning bird, what a number of colors in just on bird! Love the tiny feet and head turn. Perch and BG are great for this little one too. I don't like the crop, I prefer the original 3:2 ratio. Stuart's repost seems to be a good improvent IMHO (:?

[stuart wanuck]

great capture must have steady hands

[Ken Watkins]

I have had another go at this starting from scratch (RAW).

Here is the result.

Stuart

I should have added I also use A "Bush Bag" as extra padding between my hand and lens, it is (or was) made in SA.

[Paul Randall]

I think the repost is a big improvement in terms of composition Ken. Thanks for reprocessing:D

[Dudley Watson]

Lovely colours and detail Well captured image

[Kiran Poonacha]

I like your second crop better Ken Bhai, its more balanced. the out of the frame interest on the bird adds well....

[Daniel Cadieux]

I much prefer the comp and colours of the last repost too. It was worth revisiting the file!

[Ken Watkins]

Thanks everybody for the comments on the repost, the advice suggestions are what BPN is all about:D

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Ken, your repost looks great. Well done.

[Bryan Hix]

Good job taking the suggestions and incorporating them into the repost. Looks great! :)