Calling Giant Kingfisher.

[Stu Bowie]

The Giant Kingfisher is the largest of all the Kingfishers. This is a male, as the bronze is on the upper part of the chest area. The female has the bronze on the lower area - very easy to distinquish. This was taken in the Pilanesberg nature reserve, early morning some time last year. The BG is an OOF mountain. From this position, we manouve so as to get a good BG, instead of a sky BG.

Canon 50D
100-400 @ 275mm
1/1600
F/5.6
ISO 800

Exp Comp +0.67

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

275mm. WOW.

loved the comp, pose, angle, light and the colors. Such an awesome shot. Well done, Stuart.

[Ken Watkins]

Stuart,

WOW, this is a joy to behold

[Daniel Cadieux]

I can only dream of photographing a living KF at 275mm!

Well done on all counts. Love the calling pose, perch, nice light. You even got some irridescense on the chest. Perhaps just a little lighter on the iris would be good.

[James Salywoda]

This is very nice excellent detail I also like the open beak and colors.

[Pieter de Waal]

I agree with the above Stuart, good composition and a great image of the Giant KF. Well done with the calling pose and raised crest. Love those colours.

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks a stack for the feedback guys.

[Arthur Morris]

Wow, talk about sweet light with a perfect head angle and a killer BKGR. I might wish for a smaller perch if the image was not so darned perfect....

Did you create and verticals at 400mm?

BTW, I've heard on-line that the 100-400 is not sharp wide open. What do you make of that?

[Stu Bowie]

Did you create and verticals at 400mm?

BTW, I've heard on-line that the 100-400 is not sharp wide open. What do you make of that?

Thanks Artie. On this occasion, I didnt capture any verticals, but recently when out shooting, I tend to shoot quite a few verticals if the subject allows it.

With regards to having the 100-400 wide open, a good percentage of my images are captured at full 400mm and wide open, and more often than not, I receive comments on how sharp my images are. I have heard there were 'soft' and 'sharp' lenses on the market - well if there were, I got a sharp version.

[Danny J Brown]

Stuart,

Congrats on a great capture. The iridescent feathers on the chest remind me of ruby-throated hummingbird. Wonderful!

DB

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Stuart. I have heard that most lenses are sharper than most photographers... I have owned several 100-400s over the years and they were all sharp. Go figure.

[denise ippolito]

Beautiful Stuart! I like the pose, perch and composition. Does look sharp to me too.

[Herb Houghton]

I love the BGD in this, great pose, sharpness and comp. The open beak definitely adds to the image. I can almost hear it's chatter.

[Vivaldo Damilano]

Stu what a shot, colours and light are fantastic. You make that lens rock TFS

[arash_hazeghi]

love the golden tones and details!

[RakeshDhareshwar]

This image rocks !! wonderfil light , BG , and perch !! The KF looks a lot like the Crested KF we have here !!

[Randy Stout]

Stuart:

A beauty, with good calling pose, lovely colors, BG.

A bit more DOF for tip of bill, and slimmer perch as mentioned, but since I have no quality KF shots, I am thinking this is pretty darn good!

Cheers

Randy

[Stu Bowie]

Stuart:

A beauty, with good calling pose, lovely colors, BG.

A bit more DOF for tip of bill, and slimmer perch as mentioned, but since I have no quality KF shots, I am thinking this is pretty darn good!

Cheers

Randy

Thanks a stack Randy. After viewing your impressive Spoonie images from your trip with James and the gang, how about swopping a Spoonie for a Kingfisher.

For the rest, thanks a stack for the feedback, comments, and kind words.

[Steve Canuel]

Hey Stuart,
Love the light and warm colors of this one. Detail is excellent per your usual standards.

[Harshad Barve]

Killer pose , awesome techs , light and BG, what not to like my friend , Terrific image
TFS

I can only dream of photographing a living KF at 275mm!

Plus one here

[Stu Bowie]

Steve, Harshad, thanks a stack guys. Always appreciated.