Mrs. Woodpecker

[arash_hazeghi]

This is the female pileated woodpecker that I photographed in Victoria BC. The females don't have the red patch on their head

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1D-X 400DO II + 1.4X III. ISO 1600. f/5.6 at 1/200sec. hand held from Tim Zurowski's blind. Processed with DPP 4.3

[Eric Dienesch]

wonderful smooze light and a good sharpness.
it seems to be, that you had no direct sun light, but this was very good für such an picture.

i dont know, what you could made better. great work.

[Glennie Passier]

Beautiful Arash. The BG and details in the feathers is, IMO, outstanding. Interesting to see your SS... and hand held. I am confused by the title and your description though.

[christopher galeski]

One word,quality,love every thing about it,well done.

[keith mitchell]

Arash very impressive that you get such sharpness and detail at 1/200 hand held, agree with Eric don't think you could make it better.

Keith.

[Mike Poole]

Great, usual high quality shot. I think a light head turn towards us would have been nice, but fantastic details throughout the bird.

Mike

[John Robinson]

Superb IQ and PP
Love it!
JohnR

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Arash ... well Mrs . Woodpecker does look great , lovely details and cracking sharpness for the given techs . Exp and tones do look nice too .
Not sure about the blues , as i do not know this species i would not get the idea , but as the blues are also visible in the tree bark i get the idea that the blues are too strong , and i would reduce them , but this is an easy fix if wished .If you think you like it , ok .

Lovely work ... TFS Andreas

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi Arash ... well Mrs . Woodpecker does look great , lovely details and cracking sharpness for the given techs . Exp and tones do look nice too .
Not sure about the blues , as i do not know this species i would not get the idea , but as the blues are also visible in the tree bark i get the idea that the blues are too strong , and i would reduce them , but this is an easy fix if wished .If you think you like it , ok .

Lovely work ... TFS Andreas

Hi Andreas, thanks weird but I don't really see blues in the tree bark it's probably difference in screen calibration.:S3:

[arash_hazeghi]

thanks everyone, it's really easy to hand hold the 400DO II at 1/200sec (IS set to mode 1), I have even got sharp frames at 1/50 sec :bg3:

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Andreas, thanks weird but I don't really see blues in the tree bark it's probably difference in screen calibration.:S3:

Yes that might be , do not know what your settings are , mine are D50 / 90 cd / 1.8 G, but the eyedropper in PS does not lie . In " larger " parts of the bark and bird you have i.e. values 60/ 64 / 81 RGB or 28 / 5 / -15 in LAB . This is for sure an indicator for a higher blue component in parts of the image , but as color is subjective up to everyone´s taste .
And not a big issue for , i just might lower the blues as a personal pref in this image .But as it is yours , your call .

Hope you understand my thinking

Thanks Andreas

[annmpacheco]

a beauty again Arash, in all ways! did you need to ?"desaturate" the reds at all?

[arash_hazeghi]

Yes that might be , do not know what your settings are , mine are D50 / 90 cd / 1.8 G, but the eyedropper in PS does not lie . In " larger " parts of the bark and bird you have i.e. values 60/ 64 / 81 RGB or 28 / 5 / -15 in LAB . This is for sure an indicator for a higher blue component in parts of the image , but as color is subjective up to everyone´s taste .
And not a big issue for , i just might lower the blues as a personal pref in this image .But as it is yours , your call .

Hope you understand my thinking

Thanks Andreas

Hi Andreas, I usually rely on my eyes to adjust the color rather than using the eye dropper tool, the exact RGB value depends on the light source (reflective here), in a cloudy day with no sun the blue channel will be stronger, under evening light the red channel will be stronger... I explain this concept on my blog http://arihazeghiphotography.com/blog/color-correction-for-avian-photography/

In this case the image accurately reflects the original scene and the colors of the female pileated on the wet tree trunk.

For my screen, I use Spyder Elite to calibrate it, it sets all the parameters dynamically based on the light sensor and ambient light level.

Thanks again for your comments.

Arash

[arash_hazeghi]

a beauty again Arash, in all ways! did you need to ?"desaturate" the reds at all?

Thanks no I didn't de-saturate the reds.

best

[Andreas Liedmann]

Thanks Arash for additional info, i already looked at your " concept" in the past , so nothing new for me :wave:

Cheers Andreas

[Marina Scarr]

Very fine frame, Arash. Love that perch, BG and the pronounced tootsie.

[Randy Stout]

Arash:

Excellent, classic woodpecker comp, with fine techs. One of my favorite birds. A number of years ago I had a nest in my backyard, and spent many hours sitting in a natural blind watching them. My only regret was I didn't have the right gear to capture them well at that time. I check every spring to see if they might be back.

Cheers

Randy

[adrian dancy]

A note to Glennie. I think Arash is alluding to females lack of a red malar stripe.

Pose and techs look good. There appears to be a faint bleeding of red on the distal crown feathers. Impressive image.
I presume by remnants on the bird's bill that it was baited? Not all blind use infers baiting.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Beautiful shot great details and setting.
To be honest I was going to ask did you correct the blues in DPP but I see this point has been covered. My first impression was that there was a slight cast but as the ambient light in the room increased the colours look good.
I am curious did you get many keepers at 1/200 sec, i.e. did you vary your shutter speeds??

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi Jon,

All of my files were tack sharp at 1/200sec. at 1/50sec I can get 50% sharp.

best