Pileated Woodpecker (m)

[Joseph Przybyla]

Dottie and I went to Circle B Bar Reserve early Friday Morning. We went to the boardwalk that spans a wetland on the Lost Bridge trail. I had a few good opportunities for Pileated Woodpeckers. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D500
Nikon 500mm F/5.6 VR AF-S ED PF + Nikon 1.4III Teleconverter, camera and lens supported by a Oben monopod with a Wimberly MonoGimbal head
1/2000 F/8 Matrix Metering EV 0 ISO 640 Auto 1 WB, image captured at 700mm (1050mm 35mm Equivalent)
Post processed in Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC 2021, Topaz Denoise AI and Topaz Sharpen AI
Cropped for composition and presentation

[Jack Backs]

Nice pose. Looks like pretty good detail in the blacks. I'd consider a vertical crop.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Joe a cool subject ....
I do like the pose and the perch .
Overall color and tone are looking good , think there is too much blue in the shadows .... personal taste .
The reds in the hood are blown and you have not much details left , IMHO .

A lot of Topaz involved ... for whatever reason , but this is just my personal thing .Not meant as a critique ...

TFS Andreas

[Randy Stout]

Joe:

Nice pose, rather like his gaze. Agree with Jack about the vertical crop, to much negative space to left. The reds are lacking detail as Andreas mentioned, and you can retrieve some detail with judicious use of Detail Extracter on the crown.

The whites on the head and neck are a little muddy looking.

Cheers

Randy

[Dorian Anderson]

Agree with much of what has been offered, specifically the hot reds. This really scream vertical given that both bird and perch are oriented along that axis. Incredible bird regardless!

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thanks everyone for viewing and commenting, much appreciated. I finally got back to edit the image using the suggestions offered. Here is a repost reflecting those suggestions.