This was just one of those right place right time shots. I had been sat behind a tree for about 1 hour photographing my local dippers when this chap decided to land on one of the branches above my head.
I took the camera off the tripod just in time to get 7 shots of him hovering right in front of me. I was more suprised than he was as I have never seen Kingfishers on this part of the river before.
I'm having a few problems processing this shot, if I lighten it enough so the bird "pops" the background is a very over bearing greenish yellow, with this version I have lightened the overall image and then gone to selective colours and remixed the greens and yellows. Any tips on further improvements would be great.
Techs
Canon 30D, 100-400mm at 400, 1/500 @ f5.6, 200iso. Handheld
Bob
nice shot mate. One that would make most of us drool i think. For processing, all i can think off is to use HDR or to process in layers. I prefer the second option. Using one layer to adjust the bird and one the background and then masking them onto each other.
I hope you don't mind just had a quick play with your fantastic image. Just done a slight levels adjusment, gave the curves a gentle "s" and up the contarst and saturation, then gave a bit more USM. I will take it down immediatly if you want me to.
Well done for being alert and not "freezing" to watch this magnificent bird.
Thanks for the comments guys.
Rob, you've really improved this shot, must go off and practice my post processing now I've got something to aim for.
Kev, if it hadn't been for your comments on wab I think this shot would have been confined to the almost but not quite file on my hard drive.
Bob
I find the 100-400mm wouldn't be the easiest and fastest lens in the world to lock onto a subject, particularly against a background with detail,but you've certainly caught the action here
Discussion
8 repliesI took the camera off the tripod just in time to get 7 shots of him hovering right in front of me. I was more suprised than he was as I have never seen Kingfishers on this part of the river before.
I'm having a few problems processing this shot, if I lighten it enough so the bird "pops" the background is a very over bearing greenish yellow, with this version I have lightened the overall image and then gone to selective colours and remixed the greens and yellows. Any tips on further improvements would be great.
Techs
Canon 30D, 100-400mm at 400, 1/500 @ f5.6, 200iso. Handheld
Bob
I hope you don't mind just had a quick play with your fantastic image. Just done a slight levels adjusment, gave the curves a gentle "s" and up the contarst and saturation, then gave a bit more USM. I will take it down immediatly if you want me to.
Well done for being alert and not "freezing" to watch this magnificent bird.
Regards
Rob
Rob, you've really improved this shot, must go off and practice my post processing now I've got something to aim for.
Kev, if it hadn't been for your comments on wab I think this shot would have been confined to the almost but not quite file on my hard drive.
Bob
Nice work.
Tony