Belted Kingfisher on a mission

Margaret...........all I could think to say on this one was HOLY SHI**

Totally agree with Brian!! Amazing!

Beautiful shot Margerat! Quite a difficult caputure! No suggestions from here.

Just simply amazing & very very very good.
I love the wing positions & detail, and you even got a catchlight


Best Regards
Matthew

Nothing to fault here captured perfectly with exposure and wing position. If anything though the head may be soft (compared to the wing area) , like focus has locked on the wing, or it may be the JPEGing only way to tell is examining the full size file.

Let me join in with a few



A remarkable and wonderful capture Margaret. I really, really wish this was mine...

Are you kidding me??The only time I see them hovering is when my camera is elsewhere..normally I can't even get close enough to get anything..This one is amazing..

<br>I've been trying all summer for a Kingfisher! What's wrong with me?

KILLER shot, Margeret! You caught her at a great angle. An instant later and she would have been too far past you.

Since you asked for Adobe RAW help... This isn't a nit, but increasing the saturation might have helped separate the bird's nice coloring from the background a bit more. You could increase the saturation to the point that the sky is almost cooked and then back the sky off with a Hue Adjustment Layer after pulling it into PS. (Select 'blues' from the drop-down, select the left eye-dropper, click on the sky, then lower the sat. or lightness until it looks 'right') I don't know if it would help this image any since it already looks fantastic, but it's a thought.

One thing I often do when using Adobe RAW and C1, at least when the shot calls for it, is increase the saturation WAY too much, then compensate for it by bringing the contrast way down. This will give you much softer colors, or the appearance of soft morning/evening light, and remove the harsh 'RGB look' that some images have. To my eye, it gives a more 'Velvia-like' coloring that can work well in some cases. One of the nice things about shooting RAW is that you can go to extremes with stuff like this without increasing noise or trashing the color palette.

Absolutely fantastic! Color me a bright jealous green!

What a <i>jaw-dropper</i> of an image! I too am one of the vast majority who can't ever seem to get within photo range of this species. Getting one on the wing like this is hard to imagine, and yet here you've shown it is possible.

I agree with all the previous comments. Beautiful capture, well done. Way to go. etc, etc.

Brian said it all.

Very nice image.

jn

Amazing!

Wow! Killer KF, Margaret! I can't get close enough for even a perched image of this species! This image gives a wonderful view of the Kingfisher!
Chris Davidson

WOWWWWWWW!

Nice to see that this can actually be done!!!!! INCREDIBLE IMAGE!
Now I can plan the next 20 years to get one like this....maybe!
Dusty V

Absolutely superb shot in every way.

WOW!

Oh my! Thank you all for your comments! I can definately see that I am not the only one who has been hoping for a catch of this tricky, speed demon. You'll each have your lucky day too, I'm sure. Fortunately, I had exposure compensation set at -.7 for the Wood Ducks, as I only had time to either extend the monopod legs or reset exposure. Normally, I would not have been shooting into a sunny, noon sky at 6.3, but I'm glad I didn't have time to adjust, as I would likely have blown the opportunity. Chris, the focus is fairly even across the bird, although the shot before this does show a bit better focus on the head (but tucked in wings and some motion blur ). Jay, thank you so much for taking the time to so carefully explain some adjustment techniques. I was just about to repost it with the added saturation, but am not yet quite happy with the sky color. The Kingfisher does stand out better, though. I had less success on this image with the saturation/contrast method.

Margaret

Hi Margaret

An excellent flight capture, regardless of the species, & there is a better one still in there with some PS tweaking.

That has got to be one of those Nat Geo stuffed bird photos, but I can't see the wires anywhere! Incredible capture.

Amazing

Al Menk

Congrats on your honor- and hello again, Margaret! It's been far too long since I've seen one of your shots.

excellent flight shot! a real beauty and a well deserved pic. of the week!

Cropped or not you nailed this one on focus and exposure and the details are all still here at this cropped size, These are fast birds and you did a great job just to get her into focus let alone stop the action nicely ahd hit the exposure dead on also.. I took one of these about a month ago but it wasn't sharp and it was only a pin prick in the frame so not worth keeping..

Congrats on the pick of the week here. Well deserved.

Can't say anything but "WOW".

This is a breathtaking photo! How did you manage to take that bird in flight? they fly fast and they are hard to get close to...well done! awesome flight pose too!

Nicely taken, good detail, nice panning.

Greg

Margaret: Talk about being in the right place at the right time. Wonderful job capturing this magnificent photo!

Laurie