# Half collared Kingfisher



## goooner (May 9, 2017)

So I visited South Africa for around three weeks, and met up with @CarlosFrazao. What a great lad, that took me along to a close by game reserve where we were lucky enough to snap this little guy. Apparently extremely rare. Sat around 5-6 meters away, and gave us a few seconds to snap him. I'm still not 100% happy with my Tammy 150-600, but it is probably user error.

Thanks again @CarlosFrazao for taking the time to show me around your stomping ground. Hope you got a few good ones as well!

As always, C&C more than welcome.

#1




#2


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## ZombiesniperJr (May 9, 2017)

Great shots


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## goooner (May 9, 2017)

Thank you Logan.


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## BrentC (May 9, 2017)

I love the look of kingfishers.  Only had one chance so far to capture one but it was a terrible shot and had to bin it.  I am always on the hunt for them.  These are very nice shots and its great when you can capture the rare ones.


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## MSnowy (May 9, 2017)

Cool set!


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## goooner (May 9, 2017)

BrentC said:


> I love the look of kingfishers.  Only had one chance so far to capture one but it was a terrible shot and had to bin it.  I am always on the hunt for them.  These are very nice shots and its great when you can capture the rare ones.


Thank you, yes they are tough to catch. 



MSnowy said:


> Cool set!


Thank you


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## annamaria (May 9, 2017)

Nice shots of a beautiful bird. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## goooner (May 9, 2017)

Thank you.


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## baturn (May 9, 2017)

Nice!


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## goooner (May 10, 2017)

Thank you.


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## birdbonkers84 (May 10, 2017)

I think these are great Gooner, great colouring on the bird!  I certainly have not had the opportunity to photograph one!  I have a question, did you shoot these on a tripod?


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## goooner (May 10, 2017)

Coull3d said:


> I think these are great Gooner, great colouring on the bird!  I certainly have not had the opportunity to photograph one!  I have a question, did you shoot these on a tripod?


Thanks for the nice comments, no tripod was used, probably had VR on, brought up the exposure about 1 stop in post though, to bring out the colouring. Blew the background, but I like it. I might play around with only brightening up the bird, but have too many photos to get through at the moment.


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## birdbonkers84 (May 10, 2017)

goooner said:


> Coull3d said:
> 
> 
> > I think these are great Gooner, great colouring on the bird!  I certainly have not had the opportunity to photograph one!  I have a question, did you shoot these on a tripod?
> ...



I wouldn't worry too much about the background!  at 1/200 you most definitely had your VR on, Tamron 150-600 VR surprisingly good.  I suspect if you had a higher shutter speed and ISO and even used some exposure comp +1 you might of been happier with Tammy!  I love my Tamron 150-600, for what I can afford it's very good!


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## CarlosFrazao (May 10, 2017)

Howzit man, no probs it was a blast taking you around for the day. Haha yeah we where lucky with this one. Yeah the Tammy was a tough one if we where comparing to my Nikon I think the Nikon definitely took the cake and both of us where shooting very slow because of the terrible weather.


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## goooner (May 10, 2017)

CarlosFrazao said:


> Howzit man, no probs it was a blast taking you around for the day. Haha yeah we where lucky with this one. Yeah the Tammy was a tough one if we where comparing to my Nikon I think the Nikon definitely took the cake and both of us where shooting very slow because of the terrible weather.


Hey Carlos, would love to see your shots from that day. I think my problem with the lens is probably user error. I will give it a good go this summer, and see if I can get better results. Then I might just send it back to Tamron with my camera so they can  sort it.


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## jcdeboever (May 10, 2017)

Cool. Affordable travel?


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## goooner (May 10, 2017)

jcdeboever said:


> Cool. Affordable travel?


Thanks, I guess it depends on what you mean by affordable. I stayed with my parents for all but four nights. The current exchange rate is very good if you have dollars or euros, but many places that cater for tourists are still pretty expensive. I paid around 750€ for my flights, and booked them only about 3 weeks in advance.


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## jcdeboever (May 10, 2017)

I would love to go there but my next trip is out to @Gary A for barbeque and Fujifilm frolicking.


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## goooner (May 10, 2017)

jcdeboever said:


> I would love to go there but my next trip is out to @Gary A for barbeque and Fujifilm frolicking.


Well you should bring Gary along, we have very good wines in SA-lol


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## CarlosFrazao (May 10, 2017)

goooner said:


> CarlosFrazao said:
> 
> 
> > Howzit man, no probs it was a blast taking you around for the day. Haha yeah we where lucky with this one. Yeah the Tammy was a tough one if we where comparing to my Nikon I think the Nikon definitely took the cake and both of us where shooting very slow because of the terrible weather.
> ...


 Sure man let me add some up tonight when I get home


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## Peeb (May 10, 2017)

Good one! Birds are SO difficult to capture most times and some species are more elusive than others.

 I would select the eye and bring up exposure 1/3 stop to get it lively, and very gently sharpen, and as you said, bring the background down a bit.  Maybe something like this (apologies that my skills in post are limited).




Please disregard suggestions if I've ruined a perfectly spectacular capture! Well done.


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## CarlosFrazao (May 10, 2017)

jcdeboever said:


> Cool. Affordable travel?



Very affordable I picked him up drove him there to show him how useless staff are in South Africa lol. We had a good morning some bottled water and snacks took him back home again cheap cheap lol.. I think we had a good morning for the time we where there. Always nice taking people out to my fav spots...


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## goooner (May 10, 2017)

Peeb said:


> Good one! Birds are SO difficult to capture most times and some species are more elusive than others.
> 
> I would select the eye and bring up exposure 1/3 stop to get it lively, and very gently sharpen, and as you said, bring the background down a bit.  Maybe something like this (apologies that my skills in post are limited).
> 
> Please disregard suggestions if I've ruined a perfectly spectacular capture! Well done.


Thank you for the nice comments. I like your edit, and will revisit these as soon as I get through the 2000+ images. I really should have spent more time with these, as they are precious, and I will probably never see this species again.


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## Peeb (May 10, 2017)

Keep us posted as you work thru the set!


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## Dean_Gretsch (May 10, 2017)

Vibrant colors! Really nice shots.


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## goooner (May 11, 2017)

Thank you.


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