Common Kingfisher

[Arijit Banerjee]

Other than the Plain Prinia, this is my favourite subject.
Alcedo atthis bengalensis

Imaged in my neighborhood, Patuli, Kolkata, India
12 February 2011

Exif:

Pentax K5, Pentax DA L 55-300mm
1/400 sec at 300mm
f8, ISO 640
Hand held, -0.7 Ev
Aperture Priority, Spot Metered


Arijit

[Bhargava Srivari]

The BG looks nice. I like the vertical composition...looks to be a large crop, is it? There is a slight loss of detail..otherwise, this is an excellent shot.

tfs

[Arijit Banerjee]

Hi Sri,

yes its a 60 odd percent crop. Got a nice series of shots this morning of Kingies and this is one..

[Bhargava Srivari]

Thanks dada..looking forward to more images:)

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Hi Arijit,

The eye contact is fine. The background is well diffused.

In this composition, the Kingfisher is almost at the centre. An offcentre composition is normally more dynamic and would have been better.

The Kingfisher is looking down. The space at the top can be considered as negative space, and reduced.

It is always better to include more space in the direction the bird or animal is looking or moving in. However, in this case, the cut tree trunk at the bottom kind of arrests our vision. Moving to another position where the trunk was not visible would have been better. That would have given an impression of the Kingfisher looking down at the water, indicating it is watching out for fish. However, in this image due to the tree trunk, that feeling is not getting generated.

Moving to the right would also have exposed more of the bright orange colour.

Our best images come from subjects which are closer to us. May be you can set up a makeshift hide and slowly move closer to it. Thanks for sharing. Look forward to more.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Arijit Banerjee]

Sabysachi,
what you say makes sense and even if it is in the orthodox sense of composition, it still holds true. I had some problems position myself without falling into the pond or stepping on dog poo... in fact i was kind of behind the bird.

I redid the image. kept the negative space as it is but removed the blurred foreground stump, thereby bringing in more blue green. And yes...

IT DOES LOOK BETTER!!

Changes include as stated above and cloning some bright spots in the background.

People tell me how it looks. Be severe... please.

Arijit

[Mrudul Godbole]

The repost looks better composition wise. The colours are more enhanced adding interest. It is quite difficult to photograph these days, as most of the places are full of garbage and litter :(. Did you get any with a catch? Thanks for sharing.

[Arijit Banerjee]

Thanks Mrudul.

Yes, over the months do have a few with catch and will share them one by one. got a couple today too, lets see how they turn out.

Arijit

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Composition wise this is better. And this looks better due to the increase in brightness as well.

[Dr. Kalpamoi Kakati]

Beautiful bird.Nicely captured.Less space on the top would have been good.TFS

Regards
Kalpa

[Bhargava Srivari]

Ah! The second image looks a lot better:) As pointed out by Sabyasachi, the composition is nicer and so is the overall effect. The recomposed shot also succeeds in creating the impression that the bird is looking into the water!

Tfs

[Roopak Gangadharan]

Agree with comments below. The repost looks better.
TFS
Roopak

[Arijit Banerjee]

Thank you Roopak.