The Lilac Ghost who flies........

[Ishmeet Sahni]

Camera : 1D MK III
Lens: 500 F/4 + 2.0 EXII
Aperture:F9
Exposure: 1/400
Bias: -2/3
ISO: 800

"ORIENTAL DWARF KINGFISHER"
For me this bird is very special. I have been trying to photograph it for the last 2 years.
The only time it is FAIRLY possible to see it, is in the monsoon. That is their breeding time.
This image has been taken at a nest, but from a distance of about 30 meters. It is very
sensitive to disturbance and very notorious for abandoning its nest when disturbed. Hence,
I wouldn't even think of venturing closer than this.

The reason I call it " The Lilac Ghost who flies", in flight all you see is a lilac blur. Now you see, now
you don't........

[Mital Patel]

Ishmeet bhai,

The best photograph of this bird i've seen as in commercial value. Looks like a studio setup. Dreamy perch bg and lighting.

everything seems so sync here.

Three cheers bro.

[Ron Sprunger]

A fabulous image of a beautiful bird. Love the perch, BG, colors, detail. Is that a scorpion he/she has caught? At that distance, and with that much firepower, did you still have to crop much -- he looks like a pretty small bird. Great shot!

[Ishmeet Sahni]

A fabulous image of a beautiful bird. Love the perch, BG, colors, detail. Is that a scorpion he/she has caught? At that distance, and with that much firepower, did you still have to crop much -- he looks like a pretty small bird. Great shot!

Ron, this a crab in its beak. This one is a male. Yes, this is about a 50% crop. It is indeed very small, slightly bigger than a house sparrow.

Thank you for your comments........

[Jonathan Ashton]

A fine shot, beautiful colours and still good detail despite the fairly large crop.

[Karl Egressy]

Wow, this is amazing. I'm glad the you gave consideration to the bird's and nesting site's safety.
The picture is fantastic.

[Arthur Morris]

Quite a handsome bird and a huge beak and some huge bugs. Would you be so kind as to post the full frame capture? IQ looks pretty good.

[arash_hazeghi]

nice light and details, great handsome bird. IQ isn't great IMO, especially the noise in the feathers but sometimes you take what you can.

[Dan Busby]

This is a real gem Ishmeet - a real beauty . You have made a great image from this difficult situation. Lovely bird, colours and comp.

[yogesh_puranik]

ishmeet bhai..amazing amazing image..superb..i am trying to at least see this bird for last 2 years..you have got it in amazing settings..superb

[Ishmeet Sahni]

Thank you all for your most encouraging comments.......there are some IQ issues. This image was taken in the middle of torrential rain. We set up the camera on the tripod, used 2 rain covers and large cammo poncho. We would keep praying that when the bird would come, the rain would stop, to give us an opportunity to shoot. The bird would perch for anything between 30 secs to 2 mins.

[Ishmeet Sahni]

Artie, as requested by you I am posting the FF image. Other than changing it to 8bit and resizing it, no PP has been done.

[Ken Watkins]

Now this is what I would call special, a truly wonderful capture of an exquiste bird

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Truly exquisite image , Ishmeet . The crab in the beak , the alert pose ..lovely light !!! As far as PP is concerned , looks like a patch of NR is left on the wing feathers . You might want to correct it .

[Mark Itol]

Very nice capture of this little and colorful bird, Ishmeet. You did well in spite of the situation.

[Arthur Morris]

Artie, as requested by you I am posting the FF image. Other than changing it to 8bit and resizing it, no PP has been done.

Thank you Ishmeet-bhai. I would say that your huge crop held up fairly well. Congrats on a rare capture well done. My understanding is that once the young have hatched it is unusual for a bird to abandon. Not so with a nest with eggs. I do not of course have any knowledge of this species :).

[Robert Holguin]

Wow!!! Stunnig image. Great looking bird and you captured it very, very well.
Well done.

[Ishmeet Sahni]

Thank you Ishmeet-bhai. I would say that your huge crop held up fairly well. Congrats on a rare capture well done. My understanding is that once the young have hatched it is unusual for a bird to abandon. Not so with a nest with eggs. I do not of course have any knowledge of this species :).

Artie, there have been instances that I have heard of (hearsay), where the adults have abandoned the chicks after they have hatched.
I thought it would be prudent, to err on the side caution. My day will come when I will get a full frame of this beauty.

Thanks

[Arthur Morris]

Good luck with your quest!

[Sandesh R.Dhareshwar]

Ishmeet this image looks Amazing to me, thought i know its not always easy to get everything right with this bird I would have preferred to clone the light circles in the bg