Kingfisher.

Nikon D300
Nikon 500 ml F4
1/200
f4
iso 500
spot.

C&C please.

Cracking pose! A little more space at bottom perhaps? I wonder if focus point was on the back rather than the eye.

WOW! Only word that can discribe this.

Keith,

Its a great pose, however the eye and head are not in focus which, IMO, is doing the image no favours, particularly with the tight framing, the exposure looks good mind.... whilst using AF to get you into the ballpark it may be worth thinking about tweaking the focus manually, just to get it right...

I agree with Phil about the focus. A great POV of the subject though, against an excellent BG.

The pose is superb and the soft light brings the plumage detail out very well.
The head does look very slightly out of focus which is a real shame.
What focusing method did you use? Selecting whichever focus point is closest to the birds eye is the technique I find works best. Re-composing after attaining focus can be enough to take the edge off of the focus when using big lenses up close. Apologies if you already knew this.

Focus issue apart Keith, You have got very close to the subject and brought out good details in the feathers.

Great to see.

Cheers

Austin

Nice close up but agree about the focus

Hi keith,

cracking pose and nice and big in frame

The only real nit has been covered as the the head being slightly out of focus

Nit covered F8-11 would sort the problem-Great pose- lets hope you have a chance for another go

Dave

Nit covered but other than that you've captured a great pose.

lovely pose and light, look forward to more.

Matt

The pose is beautiful main nit covered but apart from that its a cracking KF image though

Nice one Keith, brilliant pose!

Thanks to you all for looking and your comments,i really should have noticed the the out of fouus but your tips are most helpful i will try some of your suggestions.
Justin please don't apologize when i say i won't my mistakes pointed out i really mean it thanks for your input.
Thanks again folks Keith.

Nits all covered , nice and big in the frame , a very bold image just wish I could get that close to these birds.

Bob.

There is no point in repeating what every one else has said, but I do feel that you have captured the moment perfectly here. The Bg is perfect for showing off the bird and if you could selectively brighten and saturate its colours, I think it would make a very interesting shot indeed. If this is much of a crop, then I can see how the eye is Oof, because when the subject is small in the frame, the focussing area is probably not precise enough to hit the spot even if you had it centred and will go for the nearest part of the subject. Happens to me all the time and Phils' suggestion about tweaking the focus manually has saved many shots for me lately.
eric