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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsThis Shot of a Diving Kingfisher Was 6 Years and 720K Photos in the Making
From https://petapixel.com/2015/11/25/this-shot-of-a-diving-kingfisher-was-6-years-and-720k-photos-in-the-making/ :
This Shot of a Diving Kingfisher Was 6 Years and 720K Photos in the Making
NOV 25, 2015 MICHAEL ZHANG
Nailing the perfect shot sometimes requires a lot of patience. Scottish photographer Alan McFadyen would know: he spent an estimated 6 years, 4,200 hours, and 720,000 exposures trying to nail the perfect symmetrical shot of a kingfisher diving into its reflection.
McFadyen spent most of his career as a fisherman before a nasty back injury forced him to pick up a camera instead. He has been doing wildlife photography since 2009.
Growing up, McFadyen used to visit a lake with his late grandfather to watch a kingfisher nesting spot. After taking up photography, McFadyen decided to honor his grandfather by capturing the perfect photo of a kingfisher.
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Finally, last month, everything came together. A bird did a perfect dive, and McFadyen finally managed to capture a shot in which the tip of the kingfishers beak is touching the surface of the lake:
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cyclonefence
(4,483 posts)irisblue
(33,023 posts)Permanut
(5,637 posts)Fla Dem
(23,741 posts)donotpissoffacow
(91 posts)was keeping at it until you got it right? He got it right.
warmfeet
(3,321 posts)RainCaster
(10,914 posts)I shoot kingfishers quite often and they never look like that. Here in the US we have Ringed Kingfishers, and this is a Spotted Kingfisher.
geardaddy
(24,931 posts)RainCaster
(10,914 posts)Well they try to anyhow, and they leave holes in my fish that take a year to heal. Sometimes the infection kills them instead.
Queen of the Iceni
(22 posts)There are no spotted kingfishers in Scotland.
I was trying to take a picture of a (common) kingfisher once by a brook England, but there was too much trash on the bank.
geardaddy
(24,931 posts)spike jones
(1,686 posts)The shot is a little off center, left to right, and a perfect shot would have the bird and reflection images in full top to bottom.
Pepsidog
(6,254 posts)bluestarone
(17,030 posts)supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (hope it's right had to ck spelling numerous times lol)