"Pied Kingfisher Diving for Fish" is going to be showcased at an exhibition!

Pied Kingfisher Diving for Fish

Exciting news - one of my earlier favorite photos is going to be showcased in an exhibition at The Hage, Netherlands! To quote from the email:

"
Your Photo was selected to be Digitally showcased as part of the "My Favorite Shots" exhibition at Xpozer's New Gallery located at Caballero Fabriek, The Hage, Netherlands.

You can find GuruShots' event for more details here.
"

This photo shows a Pied Kingfisher at the split-second it's lunging down right into the water. This all happens very fast - just look at the impressive form - it looks like a missile!

I have published this photo before in my Instagram and blog, but without any self-critique. So here goes:

What do I like about this photo? The pose is incredible, and not something you can reasonably observe with the naked eye. The amount of detail is pretty good. The background color provides a good contrast with the black-and-white bird. I used an open aperture (f/6.3 - the most open my lens supports at the focal length of 400mm that I used) to blur out the background, while maintaining the bird sharp. I used a fast shutter speed (1/2500 of a second) to freeze the action, so the bird is sharp.

What would I want to improve? On hindsight I should have gone for a faster shutter speed (maybe 1/4000 of a second), since the wing tips are not totally movement-free in this photo. Also, being a bit closer would have allowed for even more details on the Kingfisher.