Collared Kingfisher

[RockNGoalStar]

Hi All,

Just got back from our 2 week honeymoon in Borneo. Had a fantastic time (thanks for asking ) and got tons of photos I'd like to share with you all and get some feedback from. I will post them as and when I get round to processing them.

I'd like to start with one of a Collared Kingfisher that used to come and visit us near our villa on Lankayan Island.

Please be as critical as you'd like (especially when it comes to PP). Any compositional suggestions other than those related to cropping are welcomed also, but may not be as practical for me to correct :P

I PP'd in Lightroom 3 and cropped and sharpened in CS5. I followed most of Jiro's Workflow Tutorial but I am still trying to find my own desired PP style / technique.

Nikon D90 | Nikon AF-S 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 VR | 300mm | ISO 800 | f/5.6 | 1/30 | Handheld



Many thanks for looking

[Donald]

Tommy

1) Congratulations on the circumstances that led to you needing to go on a honeymoon
2) Glad it was great
3) I have no negative criticism of the PP. It looks good to me. The 'feeling' however, is that this was shot on dull day. It lacks a 'sparkle' that would have been present if the light had been different. So, what I'm saying is ... that you and the bird seem to have got together at just the wrong time. Given that it would have been a bit unfair of you to nail it to the branch until the lighting conditions were just right, then maybe a bit of a tweak in PP would do the job. But the bottom line is that this is very good image of a Kingfisher.

[JohnC]

Setting the CC aside, it's a lovely image. Wildlife photographers must spend a lot of time going back to locations hoping the light will be right so there's a lot of luck about wildlife photography as well as skill.

[RockNGoalStar]

Thank you both for your comments. I captured this shot in quite a dense bit of jungle so it was quite dark. The problem with this bird is that it was quite nervous and wouldn't let you me too close to it before he flew off.

I agree that there is an element of luck and certainly persistence in wildlife photography. I am not too upset about it as I was in Borneo primarily for my honeymoon and not as a wildlife photographer. On that basis I guess I can say that it is a slightly better than average holiday snap of one of the local birds!

[Donald]

On that basis I guess I can say that it is a slightly better than average holiday snap of one of the local birds!

Significantly.

And you're very lucky that the new Mrs RockNGoalStar allows you to indulge your photographic passions ... especially on honeymoon!