2nd attempt kingfisher

Second attempt with this bird. As commented in first post i have given this a bit more usm and kept it a bit bigger. It still looks a bit soft to me though and i didnt want to oversharpen. But on my monitor at full size it looks fine. Im new at this so as before any comments are welcome.
Regards Matt

Hello Matt
A nice capture of the kingfisher. It looks a little bright on my monitor. I tried a few quick adjustments in CS curves and it seemed to improve the image with slightly more contrast and darkening the highlights.
Its always a good idea to include all your techs for a more useful critique.
Best wishes
Phil

Matt,

As Phil K says it is a good idea to include the technical details, makes it a bit easier to make constructive comments....

I can only guess that this is either a high ISO image or a significant crop as the bg is exhibiting a lot of noise which would be helped with the judicial application of some noise reduction, The image is also rather bright, with the highlights appearing to be approaching clipping, if you are shooting RAW then this can be corrected in the conversion, in conversion you are fairly safe with a +/- 1/3 to 2/3 compensation and I am guessing that this image will improve with at least 1/2 to 2/3rds reduction in exposure (which would also help the noise issuea little).

The light doesn't appear to be doing you any favours, a bird like this can actually look its best when it is slightly overcast which will help saturate the colours without burning the highlights in the bg and the perch.

Now the positive side... you have caught a great pose here and it is certainly worth a bit of work to get the best from this image...... I do hope this doesn't come across too negative.

All the best and looking forward to seeing more.

Phil

It has all been expertly pointed out so, all I say is that the bird looks better than in the earlier post and I know how exciting it is to have a kingfisher within reach of your lens.

Thank you for your comments .I will definatly try them out with the image. It was shot from around 5metres directly in front of me and with maybee a couple of feet clearance before the b/g foilage. The techs are as i posted in my previous post. Sorry for not adding to this one also. It was shot on a gitzo 1340 and with a remote as i didnt wish to make any sudden movements. Maybee i would be better stabalising the lens with my hand as i normally do.I agree i may have gone over a little with sturation and yes the light was directly into the bird. As usuall it was shot in raw and the techs were.
1dmk11 500 mm
iso 500
f/7 1/800sec
Regards Matt

Matt - ditch the remote, despite anything you read about remotes and mirror-up methods with super tele lenses, it has no place in a bird shooters bag - keep it for long exposure landscapes etc.

God gave us a left hand 'cos he thought it would come in mighty useful for long lens photogs

Comp-wise there needs some space on the left side for the bird to 'look into' - rule of thirds et al.

But you photographed a Kingfisher man - you deserve a gong and a plaudit just for that

Thanks andy. I will take your advice and leave the remote at home next time i visit the site. Just seen the weather and it looks a bit better for tomorrow so ill wait and see. Hopefully ill be able to post something soon.
Regards. Matt