Pied Kingfisher with a catch

[Krish Chandran]

Pied Kingfisher
On a boat ride on the Kazinga Channel, a natural connect between lakes Edward & George, in Uganda, we saw hundreds of Pied kingfishers perched next to their nests dug into the soft mud walls of the channel. Everywhere we looked pied kingfishers were flying, hunting or resting between some activity.
Nikon Z8 + Nikon 600mm F6.3 PF + Nikon Z TC 1.4

• NIKON CORPORATION NIKON Z 8
• ƒ/9
• 840mm
• 1/640s
• ISO 1800
• Fri, 19 July 2024 5:08 PM

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[Narayanan Mangalath]

I love the color of the perch and sharpness of the bird ! I think the background is little distracting especially I think due to the color of the bird.

A more plain background, I think they achieve it using photoshop would have popped the bird better. But I like the fact that the picture is more organic without much bg processing. Thanks for sharing !

 

[Krish Chandran]

Thank you

 

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Krish, Pied KF are lovely birds, quite graphic in their colouration/plumage being tonally B/W. I think because its B/W it does have standout, but I would, as Narayanan suggested. you could tone the BKG down so it doesn't quite compete with the subject, however as the file does not have an sRGB profile embedded, it could well be displaying incorrectly. Nice to have a fish, but sadly the head is looking away from the viewer is is less than ideal, but perhaps you have more from the session with a better HA?

TFS
Steve

 

[Krish Chandran]

Thank you

 

[Jack Backs]

Agreed about the background being a little distracting and the less than ideal head angle. Exposure looks good, nice feather detail for a black and white bird.
It does seem like the probability of the prey's head pointing towards you is about one in ten.

 

[Krish Chandran]

Agreed about the background being a little distracting and the less than ideal head angle. Exposure looks good, nice feather detail for a black and white bird.
It does seem like the probability of the prey's head pointing towards you is about one in ten.

Thanks Jack