Missed Opportunity

Hi, David - welcome to a great forum!
THis is actually quite a nice first post!
Avian photography, and especially birds in flight, is a very big challenge.
For BIF, Generally, use the lowest f-stop you have, (preferably 3.5-4) and bump the ISO up to the most your camera can handle. With the D300s (that I also use), it's excellent NR will handle at least an 800 iso with ease.
The 200-400 is an excellent lens, but a bit slow with a TC.
The auto WB is also great in this camera, so you might want to not fool with the WB. You can always alter it a bit in post-processing, if you want to.
What processing program do you use?

Sandy r

I get to be the first(2nd, Sandy beat me to it) to welcome you to the site David... You picked a challenging subject and situation for your first post...yikes, notoriously illusive bird AND engaged in a dive! I really like the way you managed to capture the splash droplets at their peak with the wings on the top of the upstroke. He appears to be just slightly turned away from you, not your fault though, birds don't usually fly towards you do they....

Sandy, Thanks for the comments. I use Photoshop Elements 8. I did a slight crop and very little else with this photo. I should have sharpened it after reducing the file size but I forgot. I was actually shooting this guy up in a tree and wanted a little bit better depth of field when he dove straight into the water. I am not yet savy enough to change my settings that quickly as I shoot in manual mode almost always. I would have liked to have been at 5.6 (lowest I can get with the converter) and something like 1600 on the shutter but I was not fast enough. I very much appreciate your inclusion of settings for the D300S though. Thanks for getting this started. I have enjoyed reading your posts for several months as well as your comments for other members ad you are an excellent photographer.

David, welcome to the forums. Don't be intimidated about posting--there's an incredible talent level here, and you'll also find that people are extremely constructive and helpful. I've learned a lot already in my couple months posting here.

I like the dynamic nature of the shot, with the raised wings and water everywhere. I think that it could use a little sharpening, and that more shutter speed in the field may have helped also. This is certainly a difficult subject though, and you've got a good start.

If you shoot RAW (you should!) you can use auto white balance in the field and fine-tune it when you get home.

David, congrats on getting the elusive kingfisher in action. Like the water droplets.
On shooting bif, it's easier and almost always useful to set your camera for aperture priority. That way you can change settings on the fly with one finger.

Love how you captured the action. These guys are not easy to find, let alone to photograph, let alone while fishing. I think you've done very very well. Probably for this type of shot you would need even more shutter speed to get the bird nice and crisp. Love the flying water. Looking forward to more of your images.

Welcome David! Nice action, I like the splash. It sounds like you didn't have time to change any settings but if you were planning to get this shot I would have bumped up the iso to 800. These guys move so fast, I try to keep my shutter speed as fast as possible when photographing them in flight. Adding some sharpening would probably help here. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your work.

David
Welcome to the forum. Great first post. You already have excellent suggestions from some very talented photographers, and you obviously have considerable experience.
I often see and photograph kingfishers. The following observations may be of some help to you:
They generally perch on a low branch when fishing. They strike with lightning speed. They are very often successful, and will often go back to the same perch with the catch. Usually, you can see the fish in their mouth for a few seconds before they swallow it.

When they are perched, and looking for a fish, you don't know exactly where they will dive. At that stage, it helps to have a wide open field of view (otherwise you are very likely to miss the action) and then try to zoom in on the spot where they dive. For this, I generally like to use shutter priority at 1/2000 sec. This effectively stops the motion.
When they are back on the perch with the fish in the mouth, you need maximum zoom in, since the fish is so small.

Like us, kingfishers are creatures of habit, and have their favorite perches for fishing.
If you keep an eye on the spot (for a few days) where you saw him, you are very likely to get a second chance.
Hope this helps. Looking forward to future posts from you.
Kumar

Hi David,

Welcome to NPN's Avian critique gallery, you will learn a lot from the contributing members here about technique, post processing and about the birds themselves. Avian photography is challenging and great fun.

Your fist post is a success as far as I am concerned because you posted and that is an important first step.

As fast as kingfishers fly I am surprised they don't creat a small sonic boom when they dive & fly. Shutter speed is key with BIF but being aware of dof is critical too. In the larger version of your image it appears that other areas of the bird are sharper than the bird's face, tracking these speed demons though can be very difficult. Kudos for getting this image as it is!

I am looking forward to seeing more of your work.

Welcome David. This is really nice. These are super tough birds to get in flight and you did well here. As others have said, keep your SS as high as practical on these types of shots. Give just the bird a bit of sharpening and you have a great image. Can't wait to see more images from you.

Welcome to NPN !
Nits already covered, I really like the spray from the beating wings.
Jagdeep Rajput

Only shooting 2 years and you got this? Great selection for a first post and congratulations on a tough one! Welcome to the best Avian sight anywhere. You did really great with this