This was by far the most difficult that I’ve ever gotten. As almost anyone who has had experience with a kingfisher can attest, they are extremely flighty. I scouted this kingfisher for years and attempted to stake it out numerous times. You could set your watch by its morning routine. But it always busted me as soon as it showed up and flew to a different part of the lake. One summer, the water was up higher than normal, and I was staking out a great egret at that lake (they are not tame here like most other places). I was in full camo and had camo netting and fake grass covering my camera and lens. The kingfisher flew in and landed in this tree to my right. It stayed there most of the morning. I was completely unprepared for it, and there was no way I could have turned without scaring it off. So I didn’t even attempt to take any shots. I came back the next morning–full camo and netting and fake grass for my camera and lens. The kingfisher did not seem to notice me and actually lit in the perfect place and let me take a bunch of photos of it. Probably my favorite morning of bird photography ever.
Techs:
D3s
700mm
1/1000
f/5.6
ISO 800
In post, I brought up the shadows a good amount because they were too dark after exposing for the whites. I then resized, sharpened, and decreased noise on the BG. I dodged some of the grays on the head with a darks 4 mask, and I burned the white patch on the bird’s face with a lights 1 mask. All feedback welcome.