Greater Spotted Woodpecker

[John Robinson]

Greater Spotted Woodpecker
Almost same set up as last post.
Room window job again.(See house reflection if you blow the eye up) Beech hedge in the back - with the light coming directly at the camera. House wall acts as a reflector.
D7000
Sigma 100-300mm
EV and contrast down 1 in camera
80 % 0f frame.
800 ISO
125th @f9
Neat image/Image guru
Bibble and paintshop pro.
Thanks for looking - anycoments welcome- Will be interesting to see what folks think of the backdrop again.
Thanks for the interest in my last pic.
Cheers
JohnR

[gail bisson]

The WP looks great John. I am impressed at the IQ considering this is shot through the window. I would never have known if you hadn't said so.
I like the colors in the BG. The white bark on the RHS is a bit distracting and I would consider a tighter crop from the right and burning the lighter areas of the bark slightly.
Nicely exposed with the challenging conditions,
Gail

[John Robinson]

Good points Gail. I did actually consider it (honest !!)along with taking out the white specks on the beak etc. Will play later !
Cheers
John

[John Robinson]

Repost
JohnR

[Daniel Cadieux]

Another nice autumn feel here. I do prefer the bark on the repost, and I think I would boost the saturation on the BG leaves a bit more.

[Nancy Bell]

Excellent woodpecker! I would consider a little touch-up work on the eye as the white highlight appears unfocused. I love the autumn colors of the bkgd! And that you darkened the white bark. The bkgd actually has a painterly feeling to it. Is that what bibble and paintshop pro do? You have nice clean windows :S3:.

[John Robinson]

Thanks both.
Nancy the eye problem ( as I mentioned on other pics done like this,) is the reflection of the housewall and window about 12 feet from the bird.
Will play again later )
Cheers
John

[Loi Nguyen]

John, very nice woodpecker in autumn colors. I'm impressed too that you used the reflected light from the wall. RP is definitely an improvement with the bark not competing for attention. Loi

[Greg Oakley]

Very nice John - the autumn leaves really add to this. Agree that the saturation could be a touch stronger and I'd sharpen the bird just a tad more. Great work!

[christopher galeski]

nice one John,agree with comments above,repos better.TFS.

[Norm Dulak]

Beautiful, John. The colors are gorgeous, a visual treat.

[Jonathan Ashton]

The woodpecker looks very good John but there seems to be something I can't put my finger on regarding the rest of the image, it looks ever so slightly smudged to me, is it noise reduction or some kind of surface blur????

[John Robinson]

Thanks all.
John- nothing except my secret artistic recipe !:bg3:(Joke)
No its just one pass of neat image at normal settings and the silver bark de saturated and darkened. Its the whole point about photography- some like- some don't
Cheers
John