Fledgling Pileated Woodpecker - STACKED TELECONVERTERS & AUTO FOCUS

[Marina Scarr]

Last week, I posted a picture of 3 young Pileated Woodpeckers in a nest cavity. Last weekend, there was only one fledgling remaining in the nest when I returned...a male. (You can tell the male from the female by the red marking on the cheek.) He was extremely anxious, and there were a few moments I thought he may fledge in my presence. He and his family were calling back and forth frequently, and there were times he was literally hanging out of the nest craning his neck.

It was right in the middle of the day with high sun, and I figured just for the fun of it, I would try stacking my 1.4 and 2.0 teleconverters. I began to manual focus and to my surprise soon realized that I was actually acquiring AF. Not sure why, but surely not unhappy about it. This is a very high nest, and it's amazing how all that reach helped to cut off the angle. I know it's not a great processing job, but though it would be fun to post the results anyway.

Canon 1D3, Canon 500L with 1.4 & 2.0 stacked
F11, 1/160sec, ISO 1000, manual mode
Flash w/BB at probably between -1 and 0
Feisol tripod, Jobu head

Thanks for looking.

Marina Scarr
www.marinascarrphotography.com (http://www.marinascarrphotography.com)

[Colin Knight]

Interesting moment captured here! The stacked TC's are apparent unfortunately. I think you did a good job with the techs for this situation.

[Joe Senzatimore]

Cool moment captured. The tree bark looks sharper then the bird?????

[dankearl]

I think the stacked TC'S work pretty well here.
If you could just sharpen the bird a bit more, (I don't know how big a crop or if you are already maxed out, IQ wise)
I think it is a very nice photo of a hard to get subject.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

I love the image and comp itself, especially those feet and that expression. Although it is a little soft, I would expect that with the situation but still worth it to get this amazing moment.

[Ofer Levy]

Sweet shot Marina! It looks sharp to me but when using stacked TC you need to apply more aggressive sharpening.

[Randy Stout]

Marina:

He really looks like he is ready to fledge! I had a nest in my backyard several years ago, and it was great fun watching them progress.

Yes, the original is a bit soft, but well worth the test to try and get in close, and I think Ofer's extra sharpening helped.

Another way to tell males from females: the red crown on the males goes all the way down to the top of the bill, while on the females it is more of a cap that doesn't go down to the bill.

Cheers

Randy

[Stan Cunningham]

I guess it all depends on what we want from our photos, some we try to wow viewers with artistic composition, others we try and tell a story, or document a happening. This certainly has elements of the latter 2, but some of the first as well. I agree with Ofer's extra sharpening needed. If an editor wants an image of a fledgling pileated woodpecker you nailed it.
If it were mine I would try to pull some more of the greens and blues out of the background beyond the tree but don't know if it's possible. I would not have expected such a crisp shot with stacked converters so would not have tried, great job.

[jack williamson]

Great shot of this little one standing in the hole, Ofers' sharpening helped.

Jack

[Melissa Groo]

Such a great pose, and moment captured, Marina. Don't know if I've seen an image of a young pileated pretty much in the act of fledging! I think the stacking worked well for you but I do think Ofer's resharpening helped move this to the next level. A really special image.

[Marina Scarr]

Sweet shot Marina! It looks sharp to me but when using stacked TC you need to apply more aggressive sharpening.

Thanks for the repost, Ofer. I had originally sharpened it more but thought I went overboard. Glad you suggested it.

Can you or anyone else tell me how it is that I was able to acquire AF with the stacked teleconverters?