Beginner First attempt at a kingfisher

jpgreenwood

jpgreenwood

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jason
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Nikon D7200 and Sigma 150-600. Tried ISO 400 as it was a spritely fellow. Bit of a dull day so cranked it up to ISO 1000 so bit noisy but learned a few things for next time.. Difficult to capture it without some sort of a branch obscuring the view. Im never gonna win the Countryfile shot of the year!!

DSC_7313 by jason greenwood, on Flickr
DSC_7299 by jason greenwood, on Flickr
DSC_7415 by jason greenwood, on Flickr
 
A lot better than my first attempt. Even with the lens at 600mm it was so far away just a tiny speck in the middle of the photo. Hard to tell it was a kingfisher. I would have be over the moon with your first shot.
Well done.
 
A Very good and a lot would be ecstatic with Getting one. The weather as been against you by the look of it ? you need plenty of light in most cases I would study the bird see if it perches in the open some were as they are creatures of habit
 
Noise reduced and re-cropped. Have a read up on the rule of thirds, hope this helps.

PnJs1P6L_o.jpg
 
Excellent first attempt! My first unbaited kingfisher last year was just a speck in the frame with the same lens as you. It's time now to study its habits, look for where it perches to fish and close in on your shot, using good fieldcraft and camo techniques will get you suprisingly close. Once you get to know its spots, you could experiment with your own perches, broken branches stuck into the ground near the water, or overhanging it work well. If you put the time in, the kingfisher will get to know you and it will begin to trust and accept you (within reason), I recently had one inches above my head in my pop up hide.

This one looks like a nice female, with the orange to the lower part of its beak. They'll be pairing up to nest in a few months time and Schedule 1 comes back into play.
 
Mark Blake, that's awesome. I wouldn't have thought my shot was that recoverable. I did reduce NR in LR but only by +20. Can you describe your work flow please?
 
Well done. As said above, many would be over the moon. Only took me 45 years to get my first kingfisher
 
Download the free version of neat image to deal with noise and sharpen, I find it better than Lightroom at processing it out. Nice work and far better than my first attempts, now you know it's hunting patch, you could pre position a suitably weathered stick pushed into the bank over the water, clear of any other foliage etc.
 
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