Pileated Woodpecker

[Wendy Kates]

I was working at my computer this afternoon when this Pileated Woodpecker flew into the crabapple tree in my front yard. I was so excited! So I grabbed my camera and ran outside to photograph him. (I think I was about 20-25 feet from him.) But it was overcast, and late in the afternoon, so I couldn't use a very fast shutter speed. After taking several shots, I ran back for my tripod, but when I got back outside, he flew off. So, I had to work with what I got. I sharpened the image, increased the luminance for the reds and oranges, and upped the saturation for reds a bit. I'm not wild about the background (it's the concrete from the street.) C & C welcome.
Canon Rebel Tsi; 300mm f/4 lens with 1.4 extender, at 480mm; ISO 400; f/5.6; 1/100s.

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Wendy,

One of the rules of composition is angles positioned in the frame and this works for me. The subject is so close and dominate the other elements do not distract my eye and the split tree gives the frame balance, I would take a layer of the bottom. Use a piece of paper and practice moving the bottom edge up to remove negative space. Not sure you needed to increase the saturation for the reds, this is natures own special recipe and some actually take it down a bit, let's see what others say. On balance, it looks real-good and I love the story, you must have been going crazy trying to exit the house to capture this image. Nice work using the TC to fill the frame and the tripod would have been helped - maybe next time. Like the post, very nice narrative as well - keep em coming.

[Doug West]

Using Jeff's advice. I cropped a little off the bottom and also desaturated the red
just a tiny bit to see how you like it.

I'm wondering, if maybe a little off the left also? We'll see what others think.
Everyone's eye is different.

112217

Doug

[gary ellwein]

Wendy, love the woodpecker. If this were mine, I'd play with a vertical crop.

Gary

[Wendy Kates]

Hi all,
Thanks so much. Jeff...I was definitely going crazy trying to leave the house quickly, but quietly...I didn't want to scare off the bird! Doug...I really like the changes you made, and agree that the left could be cropped too...which would effectively turn it into a vertical crop, as Gary suggests. By the way, I left my camera and tripod by the door all weekend, hoping the woodpecker would return, but no such luck!
Wendy