Great Spotted Woodpecker

[Richard Unsworth]

Hi

(Please, I cant upload files properly now - I have read if they are oversized ie > 200kb they will be heavily filtered ; my files are not above size but are being cut to 50 ish - what is causing this?)

A wet and miserable day - but then this lovely bird turned up,
Its a juvenile I think

Camera Model Name
Canon EOS 40D
Shooting Date/Time
7/30/2010 09:24:55
Tv(Shutter Speed)
1/320Sec.
Av(Aperture Value)
F5.6
Metering Modes
Split metering
Exposure Compensation
-1/3
ISO Speed
400
Lens
-
Focal Length
390.0 mm

Flash
Off
White Balance
-
AF mode

50 crop, sharpened and de - noised

Hope you like it!

Rich

[Dave Blinder]

Nice sharpness Richard. I would run additional noise reduction on the background (or perhaps a gaussian blur), if possible I think take a couple of steps to the left would allow us to see more of the tail. Whites on its back look a bit hot too.

[Richard Unsworth]

Hi Dave

tail was behind nasty tree

Running through ACR 5 again tried whites
I do have more - full bird I am working on atm


Rich

[Nico Steenberg]

Looks much better now ! Great work done.

[Richard Unsworth]

Hi Nico

Thanks

I need a one button does all system; I like this pic now

;)

Rich

[ChasMcRae]

The imaginary tail length should be included in the pic. I feel comfortable in this critique because I have NOT included it many,many times trying to get the eye. Of course rules are made to be broken in certain circumstances.
Sometimes if I love the pic and have good eye contact I crop down to just Head and shoulder view type of picture.

[Richard Unsworth]

Hi Charles


Thanks I'll remember that in future, new one on me, as hmmm, let's see about 50 percent of pics on here don't have tails in them ;) Tomorrow I'll post a pic of this Woodpecker that does have a tail in it. Actually woodpeckers have quite interesting tails, and I noticed later this one was no exception, indeed looked exactly like the tail of the Black-cheeked Woodpecker in Costa Rica!

I also noticed trees behave in a similar way in both countries ie they get in your line of sight lol

Rich

[Fabs Forns]

Besides being tight on the frame, the highlights were the boggiest problem in your OP, much improved in the repost. The idea of leaving the space for the virtual tail is a good one. I always try to do with covered legs.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Richard, Good head angle and EXP. Good suggestions above but there are several additional problems. The BKGR is very noisy and the perch tree presents lots of "nasty" problems: the broken stub pointing at the bird's chest and the one blocking the tail. Image quality is not good. The image is too tight in the frame. Moving back and well to your left would have helped.

Please post the full frame original.

[Richard Unsworth]

Arthur

here is the original, apart from resize etc
at least it proves the tail was never there

Richard

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Richard. It proves that you have lots to learn :) You have a disease known as Central Sensor Syndrome.... The virtual tail is missing because you put the central sensor on the bird's face and did not recompose; there was tons of room for the virtual tail and a border.... There are several ways to get the bird out of the center: two simples ones are to use One-Shot AF or to select an off-center AF sensor. There is tons of info on that in ABP II. The large crop of an image that was not tack sharp to begin with has hurt the SH and the image quality. Moving well to your left and waiting for the bird to look back at you would have been the way to go. Assuming that you framed it properly. :)

[Richard Unsworth]

Hi Arthur

ah well more information to absorb - grateful for that :)

Rich

[Arthur Morris]

Good luck. Bird photography can seem overwhelming at first. Today there is tons more good material available for those who want to learn than there was 28 years ago.... Plus digital!