Acorn in flight

[Dan Brown]

I captured this Acorn Woodpecker coming in for a landing on an acorn cache tree, (they are preparing for winter). Cropped about 10% and PP'ed with NX2 and CS3, selective noise reduction on BG and some of the darker areas of the pecker with Noiseware Pro. Also sharpened with Noiseware and USM. C&C welcome.

Camera Model: NIKON D300, handheld
Shutter speed: 1/1500 sec
Aperture: 8
Exposure mode: Manual
Flash: Optional,AA
Metering mode: Multi-segment
ISO: 800
Lens: VR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D
Focal length: 400mm
Focal length: 600mm (in 35mm film)
AF mode: AF-C

[Arthur Morris]

Great behavior image and I love that you can see the eye clearly despite the steep angle to the bird. Shaded parts of the birds in situations are like this are always a problem.

[denise ippolito]

Dan, Great capture with the acorn in it's mouth. Nice sharpness and I too like that you can see the eye. I agree that the shadow is unfortunate but this is terrific! Congrats!

[Trivedi Vatsal]

Beautiful image! Loved the light & exposure a lot!

[Doug Brown]

Great shot Dan! ;)