Forrest Kingfisher

[Ian McLachlan]

This was taken in North Queensland several weeks ago.Wild bird on old fence post catching anything it can crush in that great beak/bill in a cattle paddock ,this time a green Grasshopper so not just fish. I'not so kean on the post as untouched timber is closer to nature I reckon.But there was none.
Some don't like a back view but I thought the colours were a lovely variation. I was trying to catch them in flight but its a battle for almost any gear and the birds never quite land in the same place .

A1
200/600@576mm
f6.3
1/4000th
iso 2500
hh
40% crop from orig.
All comments very welcome

[Dave Pastern]

Hi Ian,

That's a very nice image imho. I personally don't worry too much about birds on fence posts - you take what nature offers you. I've seen forest kingfishers, but never gotten an image of them yet. I have shot the Azure, Collared, Red-backed and Sacred kingfishers though. I quite like the background. That A1 sure is a nice camera!

Dave

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Ian ... what a great looking subject , really nice KF species .
Love the contrasting colors , the pose and the prey is the icing on the cake .
Surprisingly the KF does look smoothed out a tad too much for my liking , i.e. the beak and the head area including the eye .... whereas the BG does show some blotchiness ??!! Might be just me ...
Still a real peach ... as the technical things are kind of minor .

TFS Andreas

[Ian McLachlan]

Andreas I have not done much to this .A bit of Topas NR , and brought the colour up from the raw, no sharpening. The B/G varies from shot to shot from whispy cloud shadow. I hope you think more natural. Yes its nice camera Dave ,like my golf clubs much better than the player. Thank you both for your comments I hope it is improved.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hey Ian ... well this does look way better to me personally ....
What are you thinking yourself ?

[Ian McLachlan]

Yes Andreas I think it is so much better and I thank you for pointing me in the right direction. I am no expert at processing my images but grateful when put on the right track.So thanks.

[Andreas Liedmann]

No worries ... it is all about exchange and learning from each other

[Dave Pastern]

Hey Ian ... well this does look way better to me personally ....
What are you thinking yourself ?

That looks better to me too. There's always something to learn about PP.

Dave

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I was thinking what Andreas was thinking about the details lacking. The reprocessed image is far better for me too.

Given the high shutter speed, and that you shot wide open, a bit more DOF would have been nice.

I don't mind fence perches, as long as they have character, and this one does.

Great stuff!