Belted Kingfisher

Hi Michael,
I'm happy for you in getting a shot you have been wanting. But on the technical side I'm having a tough time getting past the heavy noise and with noise there is a lack of fine detail. With the gear you are using this must be close to a 100% crop. But you are the one that needs to be satisfied, so congrats on getting your long sought after shot.
Thanks for posting,
Ronnie G.

an excellent pose and perch, Mike. I do agree with Ronnie that there's a surprising amount of noise for ISO 400 on the 7D.

Very nice detail in the kingfisher, Michael. I think you can fix that nice uniform bg with some noise reduction. It's very noticeable in the larger version. What was the crop, anyhow?

Michael,

I love the pose of the kingfisher, the open bill, the comp and the branch the bird is perched on. I do think the IQ suffered though from the crop and would suggest some NR on the background.

I know only too well how difficult it is to get close to this species and haven't yet this year had many opportunities with them

Very nice pose from the kingfisher Michael but I do think the noise is a significant issue, especially in the larger image. They're a tough subject though and I expect you had no other options but to crop heavily.

Great perch and the nits with the noise are mentioned

Great perch, comp and pose Mike. BG noise can be dealt with.

cheers
Rob

Michael, Noise noted. This is a very nice open mouth pose w/ some good details for a large crop. Congrats on the Kingfisher and hope you can get closer next time.

That's a super pose and a really nice comp, run some nr on the bg and this is a winner Michael.