Diving Kingfisher

Gallery: AvianPosted September 28, 2015228 views13 comments

I caught this Belted Kingfisher just as it was starting his dive into the water. They are incredibly fast little birds. Although it may not be as attractive as some of the other colorful varieties of Kingfishers, they are so entertaining to watch. I saw this one dive 4 or 5 times with only one fish caught. This is approximatley 60% of FF. I applied noise reduction to the water.

Thanks for looking, comments & suggestions are greatly appreciated!
Large image provided for detail.

Canon 70D
Canon 400mm 5.6
1/2500
f/8.0
Aperture Priority
ISO 800
HH
Processed with Lightroom 5.7, CS5

Comments

13 comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on September 28, 2015 at 7:28 PM

Sweet, Steve. Neat wing position and great eye contact.

devil

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Scott Frye on September 29, 2015 at 12:28 AM

Great capture -- boy, these guys are really fast -- like the idea you were able to shhot at 1/2500 and keep the f8 DOF

Registered on February 3, 2007, 387 Posts, 1136 Comments

Comment posted by Mike Ramy on September 29, 2015 at 8:32 AM

Hey Steve,
Amazing . . .
This is by far one of the hardest birds to capture in flight bar none and you did quite well here. Superb action, detail and light with excellent separation from that nice background.
Well done . . . devil

Registered on June 16, 2012, 567 Posts, 2809 Comments

Comment posted by Keith Bauer on September 29, 2015 at 8:50 AM

Degree of Difficulty: 10

This is a very tough bird to get in flight. Nicely done.

Registered on November 20, 2003, 458 Posts, 4836 Comments

Comment posted by Elizabeth Holbrook on September 29, 2015 at 10:39 AM

Amazing capture! This has been one of the most difficult birds to photograph. You nailed it. Great job.

Registered on May 6, 2015, 43 Posts, 221 Comments

Comment posted by Hans Overduin on September 29, 2015 at 1:44 PM

I have seen many during the last weeks, but not a single descent shot. Let alone in flight. Hats of, a great acomplishment - I love it ! Cheers, Hans

Registered on August 31, 2011, 491 Posts, 3807 Comments

Comment posted by David Bogener on September 29, 2015 at 2:41 PM

Really nice flight shot. Well exposed and sharp. Consider cropping or recomposing to bring the bird up in the frame?

Registered on October 30, 2013, 417 Posts, 1255 Comments

Comment posted by May Haga on September 29, 2015 at 8:30 PM

Very difficult to get these in flight but you did an excellent job on this one.

May

Registered on February 22, 2007, 714 Posts, 8470 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on September 29, 2015 at 11:06 PM

Nice timing on this Steve and good work working with this fast little bird. Good wing position to boot!

Registered on June 19, 2008, 1005 Posts, 8028 Comments

Comment posted by David Schoen on September 30, 2015 at 5:18 PM

I've had a few of these near my house for several years and I just watch in awe as they fly by so fast and I always think to myself how nice it would be to catch one in flight. So I know how difficult it is to do this. I've been able to get a few images on a perch but even that is difficult because they don't stay still for very long. Great shot. And I am going to keep trying...

Registered on November 6, 2006, 1213 Posts, 4587 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on October 2, 2015 at 7:01 AM

Awesome flight capture of this beauty Steve devil

Great wing position and fanned tail!

Sweet One!

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on October 3, 2015 at 11:04 AM

Great job on this flight shot Steve, nice details, light, and colors..

I hate to be the odd man out, but I see a few cloning artifacts in the LP that you might address.