Pied Kingsfisher, Okavango Botswana. Canon F1, 300 mm 4.0 lens.

I was in a boat when I saw the kingsfisher and as I passed this was the only good picture I was able to take.

-- Hakan Liljenberg (coracias@hotmail.com), August 03, 1999

Answers

It could be a little sharper and some may say the bird should be larger, but I like it. Simple, serene, even poetic (reminds me of haiku). Excellent composition! Donna

-- Donna P. Bollenbach (cassidy@icubed.net), August 03, 1999.

I love this. The position, pose and framing is perfect, and the shot has a wonderful mood. Some might moan that the bird is too small, but you have caught the profile so beautifully that it can only be a kingfisher. I really hope the overall softness is a result of the scanning process and is not on the neg/slide.

-- Struan Gray (struan.gray@sljus.lu.se), August 05, 1999.

The unsharpness and softness of the picture is because I have used a flatbed scanner not really acceptable for scanning slides. The slide itself have a much better sharpness. And I find the comments of the size of the bird very interesting. I have noticed big differences on how you look at and make a picture in different parts of the world. I live in Sweden and among nordic nature photographers (and there a many very good ones in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark) it is quite common to take a picture where the animal is very small and the purpose of the picture is to show the animal in its environment.

-- Hakan Liljenberg (coracias@hotmail.com), August 05, 1999.

Very interesting insight, Hakaabout different perspectives on nature photography from different parts of the world. Personally, I would rather see more pictures of animals in their natural environment than the in-your-face wildlife portraits that seem so popular in this country (U.S.A.) today. If we want to preserve natural habitat, we need to portray natural habitat and try to bring a sense of the importance of each living creature to the survival of the other, including man. To put it simply, we need to portray the wonders and significance of biodiversity. Thank you for sharing, Donna.

-- Donna P. Bollenbach (cassidy@icubed.net), August 05, 1999.

I too live in Sweden (Hej Hekan!) and also find that Nordic nature photography is more diverse than what arrives here from US-based publishers. That said, when I've visited the US I have found local galleries and magazines have broader tastes than the mainstream national press, so perhaps people actually living in the US don't notice the preponderance of in-yer-face wildlife so much. Luckily, noone is forcing me to make an exclusive choice, though if they did, I have a preference for shots like this one.

-- Struan Gray (struan.gray@sljus.lu.se), August 06, 1999.