Ladder-Backed Woodpecker

[Mark Schmitt]

Kelso Valley is a semi-arid area of cattle ranches. In the summer hot; winter windy and cold. The day this image was taken is was bitter cold with a sustained wind of about 30-40 mi/hr. Strange how the day can be so birght and yet be so cold.

The image is centerd becaus the bird is to the left of the perch (stump of a dead Joshua tree), I divided the image by the rule of thirds, and placed the bird on the vertical between the nodes of the left two thirds. This placed the stump in the middle, but left the right side of the image open. Suggestion welcom, as always.

EXIF:
Camera: Canon 20D
Lense: Canon EF 500mm IS L @ f 4.0
Exposure: 1/1600 @ f 7.2
Exposure mode: Apeture priority
ISO: 200
White bal: custom 5600 K
Date of original: Nov. 2006
Work flow: Adobe Lightroom 1.4; CS2 post process

[Ramon M. Casares]

I like it, I might crop a very little bit from the left and give the whole image a bit more stauration, but other than that it looks terrific, the light, the pose, the perch, the BG, all is excellent! Congratulations!

[sten-åke nilsson]

hello Mark.I like this photo..to me it`s a high quality picture. lightning and BG sharpness. and the position of the bird feels right to me. great http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/images/icons/icon14.gif best regards sten

[James Salywoda]

Mark very sweet shot I love everything about it Well Done!!! pose, bg and detail.