My 1st Kingfisher - image added

Martyn...

Martyn...

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Well it has taken long enough, not that I had made any real effort, these were a case of right place right time,( 1/100sec f7.1 550mm hand held ) and a lot of luck with those settings. I had been photographing some Pike with an 85mm lens, and had just switched back to the big lens (hence the wacky settings), when the Kingfisher dropped in, I managed four shots before it flew away and luckily these two were OK.

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Just added this image from Sunday, it shows how difficult it can be to see these brightly coloured birds, let alone photograph them :D

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:woot: congrats on the king mate cracking shots.

:razz: im still waiting to get one.

cheers j
 
kaz10 said:
cracking set I am dying to get my first kingfisher
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Kaz, I have been trying (not too hard) for a couple of years to get one, so when I saw those on my lcd yesterday I was over the moon. So today I thought I will give 30 minutes in the hide, just before I go home, and guess what I got some more :D which need PP, needless to say I was a touch late getting home, these little devils are addictive.
 
Martyn... said:
Kaz, I have been trying (not too hard) for a couple of years to get one, so when I saw those on my lcd yesterday I was over the moon. So today I thought I will give 30 minutes in the hide, just before I go home, and guess what I got some more :D which need PP, needless to say I was a touch late getting home, these little devils are addictive.
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You lucky devil you I am green with envy:crying: but good on ya
 
kaz10 said:
You lucky devil you I am green with envy:crying: but good on ya
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I was watching the one today fishing, unfortunately there was too much deadwood and dead reeds between me and the water where he was diving in, see I now have a new challenge to get one entering the water, may have to pop up one evening and thin out some of the dead stuff.

Little tip Kaz, it;s that right hand window I mentioned before.
 
Martyn... said:
I was watching the one today fishing, unfortunately there was too much deadwood and dead reeds between me and the water where he was diving in, see I now have a new challenge to get one entering the water, may have to pop up one evening and thin out some of the dead stuff.

Little tip Kaz, it;s that right hand window I mentioned before.
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I bet the day I go I will be there for hours and hours and he won t show:( but I live in hope I ll get one some day:)
 
Great shots, you must be proud of them. That is def one I got to get
 
kaz10 said:
I bet the day I go I will be there for hours and hours and he won t show:( but I live in hope I ll get one some day:)
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For something as colourful, they can be really tricky to spot in amongst all the leaves and branches, the second one I saw today dropped a couple of branches to get closer to the water, and I had a right job finding him again.
 
Very nice, its a great feeling when you get your first shots. (y) :D
 
Well done on catching them. #2 is excellent (y)
 
Thanks for the comments folks, I note that most of you prefer image number 2, my favourite is the first, mainly because I was hand holding 4kg of kit with a shutter speed of 1/100s focusing through all that vegetation and still got a sharp image. :)
 
No 2 is excellent, especially given it was taken hand held at 550mm for 1/100th!
 
sepulchre said:
No 2 is excellent, especially given it was taken hand held at 550mm for 1/100th!
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Luckily I had the VR turned on ;) which saved my bacon. Having said that with the lens and camera weighing 4kg I was amazed at the result even with it on.
 
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Found them Martyn......fabulous,well done............:clap:
 
Lovely No 1 is my favourite, now you've found a good site you wont be able to keep away, one of my favourite birds. Lynda
 
lynda said:
Lovely No 1 is my favourite, now you've found a good site you wont be able to keep away, one of my favourite birds. Lynda
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Glad you preferred the first image also, thought I was alone on that score, and whats that about keeping away...I was back out Sunday, and I called out this evening ... still dropping in Kaz ;)
 
great set of pic's number 2 for me does it.. but then again any shot of this bird would do it for me :)
 
I think that first one is amazing, personally. Keep coming back to this thread to look at it. It's got a wonderful springtime atmosphere about it. :clap:
 
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OOH you are soo lucky, its one of the birds I would love to see let alone get a photo. Spent a lot of time trying to even see one without any luck.

Realspeed
 
you are on that slippery slope of trying to improve now Martyn :) its a long road, and you always say to yourself "its nice, but i can do better" or "now i want it impacting the water while fishing" or something similar :)

Nice set for a first one, looking forward to the next round now :)
 
i like no1 and 2 iam hoping to get some shots of these birds on sunday at rufford park at nottinghamshire
 
Lovely images Martyn, I like 2 but can understand why you like 1 (handheld at 100th\sec very impressive and the focus is spot on. Might be coming down to belvide next weekend (2nd I think), we`ll be at anglesey this weekend.
 
Assistant Emma said:
Lovely, well done for spotting him!
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Thanks

MarkEvan said:
Lovely images Martyn, I like 2 but can understand why you like 1 (handheld at 100th\sec very impressive and the focus is spot on. Might be coming down to belvide next weekend (2nd I think), we`ll be at anglesey this weekend.
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2nd would be OK with me

julesn said:
i like no1 and 2 iam hoping to get some shots of these birds on sunday at rufford park at nottinghamshire
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Best advice is learn their call and use your ears to find them

IanC_UK said:
you are on that slippery slope of trying to improve now Martyn :) its a long road, and you always say to yourself "its nice, but i can do better" or "now i want it impacting the water while fishing" or something similar :)

Nice set for a first one, looking forward to the next round now :)
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I already have some more...it is addictive ... and so true about the impacting the water shot, about 5mm from the surface would be good :D

meat said:
great set of pic's number 2 for me does it.. but then again any shot of this bird would do it for me :)
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Thanks, that was how I felt up until Saturday :D

DanielB said:
I think that first one is amazing, personally. Keep coming back to this thread to look at it. It's got a wonderful springtime atmosphere about it. :clap:
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That is really nice, thanks.

realspeed said:
OOH you are soo lucky, its one of the birds I would love to see let alone get a photo. Spent a lot of time trying to even see one without any luck.

Realspeed
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It took me a while, do not give up it will happen

asm61 said:
Fantastic love number 2
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Thanks
 
Beautiful images. I'm so jealous - they're on my 'hope to photograph' list...lol.
 
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