Downy Woodpecker

[Joel Eade]

Backyard setup
1D MKIII
300mm f/2.8 + 1.4 TC
Tripod + Wimberly II
Manual Mode
Evaluative metering
430 EXII off camera, manual at 1/8
ISO 800
1/500
f/7.1

[Mikko Viljamaa]

I would not change a thing. Nice one...


Mikko

[nancy hazen]

Very nice shot. I like the soft background, natural perch and great detail!
Nancy









V

[Julie Kenward]

Joel, you did a wonderful job on exposure here. The blacks and the whites are both in line - nothing blocked or blown. That, in itself, it very good. You've also got a wonderful pose, good HA, nice catchlight...all very strong.

My one "negative" and it's very minor is that the BG so closely matches both the beak and the stump that they seem to almost blend into one another. You might try selecting the BG only and then open a hue/saturation layer and push the hue around a bit and see if you can find something that would pop it against the beige tones of the beak and branch. I think a pale blue would look really nice if you can push it that far.

Nicely seen overall - very clean and clear image of a very small bird.

[Joel Eade]

Thanks Julie,

The background is a set of woods about 50 yds back, this time of year everything is gray in Kentucky.....the 300mm 2.8 makes great bokeh, very smooth but I see your point about the color....I'll see if I can make any improvement.

I was veryl happy with the sharpness and exposure on this one, didn't need much processing really.

Joel

[Dave Leroy]

Very well done.
I like the pose and composition.

Nice choice on the perch.

Another option to get a bit of separation from bg might be to try a bit of contrast boost in downy.

Dave

[James Shadle]

SWEET!
I'd like to see a little more room bottom and right.

Outstanding as is.

[Joel Eade]

Thanks James and Dave,

I appreciate you looking and commenting.

Joel