Full Body Male Pileated Woodpecker.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Here's a complete body image of the tame Pileated Woodpecker. This is the only angle I could get to align myself with an evergreen to give me a nice green BG...every other angle was tangles of leafless tree limbs against white sky. Luckily, as it turns out, it was probably the best angle I could ask for! It was pretty actively chopping on the tree - the challenge was to get the head at a good angle. Most of the time that it stopped for a little second it was angled slightly away. A couple of times it did give me a proper HA.

Canon 7D + 500mm f/4 II, manual exposure, evaluative metering, 1/500s., f/5.6, ISO 800, natural light, full frame, a thin oof branch removed from the BG, darkened the blacks on the back and face, added cyans to the reds and desaturated them too on the crown.

[gail bisson]

Looks like you had a great time with this WP.
I really like the colors on the WP and the blacks are perfectly exposed. The reds and your PP look great.
Like the green BG as well. Good comp and nice that the tree is sloping slightly for a bit of a diagonal line.
I find the round mushroom like structure a bit distracting.
Gail

[Karl Egressy]

Excellent image, Daniel. Exposure looks good, pose looks great. I might go for a composition of less trunk, more green if you have it.

[Raybel Robles]

I like the sharpness of the image and specially on the bird. The pose and head angle from the pecker it's spot on. I do agree with the above comments that a little more green and less of the trunk may help. I also finding the mushroom a bit distracting.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Thanks guys. I actually love that mushroom, but I can see how it can be a distraction:S3:

[Jonathan Ashton]

Super colours and excellent details, the mushroom stays for me! I would suggest however a sliver off the left hand and a tad more on the right, the tree looks interesting but I think it just begins to pull my eye from the woodpecker a little bit.

[Jack Breakfast]

It's the mushroom, in a picture like this, that elevates it to levels beyond the ordinary!

[Grace Scalzo]

I like the mushroom. Part of the rotting tree that he is loving so much. Not a single thing that I can suggest to improve this beautiful photograph.

[Kirk Benson]

Wow this is fantastic Daniel, I love it just as presented... including all of the great textures and things growing on the tree, and the bare area the WP is working on.
The WP couldn't look any better, detail is super and the reds look sooooooo good. Excellent PP.
Top notch work and a real pleasure to see. :S3:

[arash_hazeghi]

Great pose and details Dan, the moss makes the tree more interesting. looks like you had fun with this woodie!

[Jack Breakfast]

I've come back to this one again a few times. Very pretty, to be sure. Man I like that moss and mushroom!