Malachite king fisher

[Geurt Bloem]

I captured this image at Marievale, a bird sanctuary, earlier this week. The very blue oof background is water. Standard PS work aka levels, curves, sharpening. This is a 10% crop from original.

Stats
Canon EOS-1D Mark III
Lens 600 f4 IS with 1.4TC
Av F8
Tv 1/1600
ISO 400
Manual (Manual)
Spot metering

Thanks for looking and commenting.

[Lance Warley]

What a crown! Beautiful.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I would like to see the face brightened, and I find the broken-off end of the perch unfortunate. A slightly better head turn would be goo too. Agree with Lance about the beautiful crown!!

[Jim Poor]

Really nice KF here. I'd lighten the face a bit. I didn't notice the broken stick until I read about it, but now it bugs me. Still, sticks do get broken sometimes ;) The fact that I didn't notice right away leads me to think that the average photo viewer probably wouldn't notice either.

[Dieter Schaefer]

Beautiful bird - agree with lightening the face. How about a different crop?

[Bill Foxworthy]

Great colors, superb detail, very nice!

[Maxis Gamez]

Very nice details, exposure and what a great looking King Fisher. Second post does not work for me. I think this should be horizontal.

If you setting up this perch, I would try to use a more "natural" looking bird with no evidence of human touch.

The BG is terrific for water!

[Gus Cobos]

Geurt,
Great image , like it the way it is, very nice colors details and background...:D

[Arthur Morris]

Beautful bird, and sharp, but head angle, head angle, head angle... I pretty much do not push the shutter button without it... Folks need to learn to look for it; it seems that folks are just pressing the button without giving head angle much thought; it is my prime consideration once I have the framing... (I cut and pasted the head angle stuff from my last post; at least you guys are consistent...)

The sky is way too electric blue and totally unnatural... Try de-SAT-ing the blues and lightening them for a more natural look.

[Geurt Bloem]

Beautful bird, and sharp, but head angle, head angle, head angle... I pretty much do not push the shutter button without it... Folks need to learn to look for it; it seems that folks are just pressing the button without giving head angle much thought; it is my prime consideration once I have the framing... (I cut and pasted the head angle stuff from my last post; at least you guys are consistent...)

Hehehehe, thanks Artie, I will remember next time. The HAP strikes again. :D

The sky is way too electric blue and totally unnatural... Try de-SAT-ing the blues and lightening them for a more natural look.

Thanks Artie, but not sky, it is water behind the MK. :D

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the c&c. The perch worries me as well but it is what was available for the MK to sit on. I do have one or two with vertical comp as well.