Black Backed Woodpecker

[Shawn Zierman]

This photograph was made two winters ago in a spruce bog in Northern Minnesota. This male had just flown into the area
where another male was scaling a spruce tree. This bird mugged just long enough for two shutter clicks before it was off
chasing the other bird, then they both went off deeper into the forest. SonyA300, Sigma50/500, iso400, 1/500, f9, removed
a few dust sensor spots from the bg, resized, selective NR on the bg, USM. Comments and critiques welcome.
Regards,
Shawn Zierman.


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[David Salem]

Very nice shot. Clean detail, exposure, BG, HA and comp. Great capture for a quickie. f9 worked well here. Good Job...

[Satish Ranadive]

Shawn:
Magnificent image.Very nice composition with beautiful backdrop.
Love the pose,colors and nice details in whites and blacks.

Regards,
Satish.

[Melissa Groo]

Beautiful colors, great pose, and I like your comp, Shawn. I was going to say you might try to eke out more details in the whites, but that's probably just the way its chest looks. I find the shadow in the BG that intersects with the head a little distracting. That could be easily toned down. Overall a wonderful portrait of this woodpecker.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the angled pose, sharpness and BG. I would go with a little looser crop but still a beauty as presented. Well done Shawn.

[dankearl]

The whites are a bit blown but that happens.
The overall look is very nice, a close up of a woodpecker I don't get to see.
The Bg color is very complementary, a bit more Dof to get the tree bark sharp would look nice.

[Shawn Zierman]

Okay...likin the feedback and thank you.
For the repost, I selectively toned down the whites on the breast of the bird...in ACR they are close to blown but not blown out....
I also diminished the impact of the bg stem above the head by using a layer mask and first reducing a lot of contrast on the stem,
then used a second layer mask to apply a gaussian blur over the area...The comp was tight originally. I only cropped a bit off the top
and a sliver off the left hand side...otherwise full frame. I do wish I had time to zoom back just a bit to gain more dof and a slightly
looser comp...

[Jim Crosswell]

Repost looks great Shawn.

[Karl Egressy]

This is a great find and a well excecuted image, Shawn.

[Jon Swanson]

Very nice details and exposure control on a tough woodpecker to find. Especially in Minnesota :)