Northern Flicker

[gary rouleau]

Northern Flicker -red shafted.
Sandia Mountains, New Mexico

Canon Mark III
Lens 600mm f/4

ISO 320 f/4 1/800

Cheers
gary

[Randy Stout]

Gary:

Soft light, nice HA.

There is some noise showing up, esp. in the reds of the tail. Could the bird have been underexposed because of the brighter background, and then the noise crept in as you brought up the bird in post? I wouldn't have expected this much noise at that ISO.

The eye looks a bit lifeless because of the lack of a catchlight.

Nice to see the red shafted version. We only have the yellow here in Michigan. Thanks for sharing.

Randy

[Harshad Barve]

lovely looking species and good advise given by Randy here
TFS

[Joe Senzatimore]

These are tough birds to get images of. At least here in NY. I think Randy hit the nail on the head with his comments. A small catchlight would make a HUGE difference.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Randy's comments are very valid. Strange noise level for such a high ISO. Adding catchlight will help, also seems DOF was too shallow. lovely bird!