Down sized downy female

[Randy Stout]

My family calls them 'down sized downies' and 'big Hairy deals' to keep track of their relative size. This nice little gal is a downy, based on bill size and the small black spots on her outer tail feathers.

D300 500mm f/4 f/5.6 1/125s ISO 1000 -1.3 EV with SB800 with beamer -1.3 EC Gitzo Wimb V2

Post - NX2

I was happy to get her out of the typical woodpecker pose for a change!

All comments appreciated.

Randy

[Marina Scarr]

Hi Randy: The point of focus appears to be the chest rather than the eye/head. I think I would sharpen the bird a bit more. An adjustment of the catchlight would also be helpful. Your BG here is gorgeous, the exposure looks good and the crop works well. It's nice to have a little lesson on the main differences between the Downy & the Hairy. Thanks for sharing.

[Randy Stout]

Marina:

Thanks for the comments. The focus bracket was in fact right on the eye ball, but I wonder if a tiny bit of head movement snuck in because of my relatively low shutter speed. I will look into sharpening it a bit more. I try not to do too much sharpening at this ISO because of noise, but you have a good point.

Thanks

Randy

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Randy

Amazingly sharp for the slow shutter speed !!! I think you pushed the ISO to a reasonable level for a good compromise !! Point of focus seems to be on the eye area !!

I like the room left to the virtual tail, gorgeous bg and pose !!! Love this image !!!

[Steve Maxson]

I don't see too many photos of woodpeckers on a small branch instead of a tree trunk - and this is a nice one, Randy. I agree a little more sharpening around the eye would help. Otherwise, I like the pose, comp, and background. Well done.

[Randy Stout]

OK, here is a version with a bit more sharpening around the eye and a little work on the catchlight.

Thanks for all the input.

Randy

[Maxis Gamez]

Hi Randy,

Second re-post works much better IMO and sharper.

[Harshad Barve]

Hi Randy

Second re-post is works very nicely.

Thanks for sharing
Harshad

[Kobus Tollig]

Repost looks better but does still look a bit soft. Great shot with good bg and comp

[Charles Wesley]

Randy,

Like the second repost. It seems more dynamic to me.
Thanks for sharing...
____________________
Charlie Wesly
St. Augustine Beach, FL

[Juan Aragonés]

I like the unusual pose of the woody and the BG is outstanding. You did a very good job with the exposure and the result is fantastic for such a low shutter speed. The image looks a litle bit cold in my monitor. In my repost I added a touch of warming, a round of gaussian blur (about 1,2) to the BG to remove evidences of noise, added a round of sharpening to the bird and some levels adjustment of the blacks to extract more details. Very good image of a really cool woodpecker

[Randy Stout]

Juan:

Nice job on the repost. Some excellent ideas there!

Cheers

Randy