Great Spotted Woodpecker

[Rene' Villela]

I hope the name is right! I got this shot today just before sunset. I stayed with this guy for over an hour. Took over 100 shots and I couldn't get a really nice one. Too many branches to get a clean shot and I think I need a longer lens! He didn't mind me at all but he was way up there in the trees. There is a mushroom under beak. I also found his home. He sleeps between 2 branches. Before I thought they made a nest.
Thank you for your time and comments!

D300 - AF-S 300 f/4 + Kenko TC 1.5x, AP f/5.6, 1/640 sec.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Rene, Nice bird and relatively sharp with a good EXP. Not sure what you did to the BKGR but it is a huge mess. Looks like sky has the mumps.... And below the front of the perch is a big shadow of what looks like the same or another branch...

In addition, your angle to the bird is very steep.

What did you try to do?

Please post the original as it looked before you brought it into Photoshop

[Rene' Villela]

Arthur... Uhmmm! I was trying to fix the BG! It just didn't come out the wish I did. Here is the original file, just bigger so I downloaded it on my website. How should I fix it? The steep angle, well, I was in a little forest at ground level and he doesn't come to low. If I move back, I don't have a long enough lens! Thanks for looking at it!

http://www.rene.miyaishi.com/woodpecker.jpg

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Rene, Thanks for posting the link to the ORIG. There are however, no Uhmmms about it. Whatever you did, you really messed up the BKGR with smudges. There are many ways to neatly clean up a BKGR. These include the use of the Clone Stamp, the Patch Tool, and Quick Masks. The trick with all of them is to work from clean smooth areas. I often use a combination of the above when working on BKGRs. Best advice is to purchase our Digital Basics PDF File as all of the techniques above (and many, many more) are covered in it.