A NEW BEGINNING ( kingfisher)

[kingfisher]

the last view years , we had soft winters , in the netherlands , that was very good for the kingfisher , every year the population was growing
soft winters , clean environment , and more place`s where they can make there nest

this year was different
we had a hard winter in the netherlands , a lot of weeks we had frost
if that happend a lot of kingfishers , shall be dead
the dutch natural association think about 40 à 50 percentage have not survives


this winter was so hard, that also the small stream was frozen
so , i have not so good feeling , for my place , where i take my kingfishers-picture`s



the last view weeks i go back , but i see nothing ,
i was afraid that i must look for another kingfisher-place


a view days back , after work , i go back and a wait about thirty minutes , than i saw one ...yes yes ..yes ..a kingfisher



this day go back with my portable hide
and after a view hours ,he was sitting on my branch
it`s a new kingfisher so he must ,get used of my portable hide

but this is the beginning



1/125 F 6,3 ISO 500 250MM

taken with my new SONY 70-400 G-LENS

greetings
gustav

[bossel]

What a beautiful beginning! I am happy they're back

[Dr. Harout]

I join Bossel (Thomas) and wish the best for you and the kingfishers. It is really a beginning. Hurray
By the way, the lens is acting superbly. Gustav, could you please post a 100% crop of the sharpest area of the picture?

[aster]

Lovely!

Niice to see a new one come around, and this one is a different shade of blue too...

I'll join Dr. Harout and will kindly ask for a 100% crop of the actual full-size photo please. Would like to see how the 70-400G is doing qualitywise.

Thanks,
Yildiz

[kingfisher]

ok i shall try to show a 100% crop , but how much is a 100 % crop ???????????????????????????////

cheers
gustav

[aster]

ok i shall try to show a 100% crop , but how much is a 100 % crop ???????????????????????????////

cheers
gustav

Gustav, open the photo to its full-size first and then crop a segment of the image where the kigfisher can be seen closely in an editting software like Photoshop or the like.

Is this clear enough I wonder?

Yildiz

[kingfisher]

ok
i think this is wat you mean




1/125 f6.3 ISO 500
SONY A700 ...SONY 70-400 G-LENS

gustav

[aster]

Yes. Thank you Gustav.

Yildiz

[KevinBarrett]

Congratulations Gustav! I know that seeing that kingfisher probably means more to you than your recent award on Dyxum, so I share your excitement. As always, I love your pictures, your stories, and the excitement with which you share them.

[01af]

Kingfisher birds were around for tens of thousands of years---maybe even for hundreds of thousands of years---so this hardly was the first hard winter for them. Life just goes on ... or as Ian Malcolm used to say, life will find a way

Gustav, I guess you're the only person around who uses his 70-400 mm telephoto zoom lens at 250 mm for birding. I'm impressed (again).

-- Olaf

[Dr. Harout]

Thanks, Gustav.
It really is a wonderful lens, as I see.
Would be interesting to compare it with the 70-300 G SSM.

[kingfisher]

can enyone , say something about the crop-picture and his quality
and if you can see , if this lens has good quality

this crop-picture is , a very big-crop

cheers
gustav

[aster]

can enyone , say something about the crop-picture and his quality
and if you can see , if this lens has good quality

this crop-picture is , a very big-crop

cheers
gustav

Hi Gustav,

Here are my thoughts on the cropped photo:

*... The detail around the eyes at this size is very good. No visible motion-blur or colour loss.
*... There are some detail losses on the feathers and plumage in general. I can see some compression artifacts which may be due to saving at a low level while saving as jpeg for the web.
*... The lens, apparently is good and fast enough to catch the intricate moves of a small and active bird like the kingfisher.
*... If uncopressed, the cropped segment of the photo would definitely look sharper with more visible details of the plumage.

In general, the image gives a good impression regarding the lens.

Yildiz

[springm]

An amazing shot of wonderful clarity and colors. As Yildiz said there is some loss of detail in the feathers, but there are possible explanations for this.

Gustav, what kind of processing do you do? What kind of software? Sorry for beeing nosy, but such excellent results make me want to know a bit of the backgrounds.

Markus

[kingfisher]

hi markus

no problem

i used first lightroom , then he open the picture in ELELEMENTS 6

in lightroom i started with

crop ( not always )
exposure
clarity not more + 15
saturation , not more than + 5
highlights
lights
sharpening

after this , he open in elements 6

some time`s i use the clone toul
in elements i have a plug in , for noise ( noiseware profesionall )
and i use elements for make the picture smaller for WEB

that`s it
i only work with picture`s that is for 90% good when i take the sh
iàm not so good with the software , so if i have a picture , it must be good for 90%
so i only used the basic-thinks at lightroom and elements

greeting
gustav