![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/belted-kingfisher-5030.jpg\" "\\"belted-kingfisher-5030")
<\/a><\/p>\n1\/3200, f\/5.6, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Two days ago in the mountains this male Belted Kingfisher landed in a tree too far away from me for high quality photos while he was perched but I had at least some hope of getting reasonably good takeoff or flight shots. So I positioned the bird in my viewfinder in such a way that I thought I might have a chance to keep him in frame when he launched and waited. And waited. And waited some more.<\/p>\n Folks who aren’t bird photographers probably don’t understand how hard this waiting game is. Kingfishers are very fast so you have to be both quick on the trigger and lucky to keep the bird in the frame because they can take off in any direction. It’s a tense situation and you can’t take your eye off the viewfinder for even an instant because if you do that ALWAYS seems to be when the bird chooses to take off. And if you manage to keep the bird in frame you also have to hope to get lucky with a pleasing flight posture, good light on the bird, no branches or twigs in front of the bird, light on the face and a catch light in the eye. And above all the bird needs to be sharp. The list of things that can go wrong is endless and nearly always one or more of them does.<\/p>\n I waited with my eye glued to the viewfinder for what seemed like an eternity but 13 tense minutes later the kingfisher finally launched. This is the best shot I managed to get but I have mixed feelings about it. The kingfisher is mostly clear of the branches, he’s almost “sharp enough”, I have light on his face and a catchlight and I have enough room in the frame for a composition that works. But I think his flight posture is a little….. weird. And I’m not very fond of his right wing position. I keep thinking he looks a little bit like a manta ray flying through the air.<\/p>\n So the next day (yesterday) I want back to the same spot and tried again.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/p>\n This time the wait for takeoff wasn’t quite as long but it was plenty long enough. What I like best about this shot is the good look at the colors and patterns of his entire dorsal surface. But the twigs and branches in the background are distractingly busy and the real image-killer for me is the fact that there’s no light on his face and I didn’t get a catch light in his eye.<\/p>\n So it goes with kingfisher photography. I’ll keep trying. Perched or in flight kingfishers are notoriously challenging subjects so knowing the high degree of difficulty is the only thing that assuages my slightly bruised bird photographer’s ego.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Notes:<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kingfishers are hard enough to capture while perched but photographing them well in flight increases the degree of difficulty by several orders of magnitude.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n\n