Norther Flicker

This is a Red-shafted Flicker female. I find I rarely get close to these birds but on this day we were having an intense snowstorm and the flicker seemed reluctant to move. She had been feeding on a nearby suet feeder and was now resting on an aspen trunk. I photographed from an open door (I didn't want to go out into the snowstorm!), using the door frame for support.

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 400 F4 DO IS, 1/1250, f6.3, exp. comp. +1 1/3 (since the snowy bkgd was so bright), ISO 800.

As I look at this now I think there is too much aspen in the image. And does the eye need a bit of something?

Lovely! Yes, I'd crop about half the aspen off. Is it fair to add a catchlight in the eye?

Nancy:

The aspen bark is a perfect color match for the bird, but would crop from the left as you indicated. There is a subtle catchlight there, and you can certainly augment it and maintain a natural look.

The reds on the bird add a pop of color, all good.

I really like the feel of this one, so certainly worth the tweaking.

Cheers

Randy

Love the detail, BG and stump. Not crazy about the square crop.

I would crop about 1 1/2-2" from the left and would remove the dark area from the bottom right. Love the detail and pose.

Sweet looking bird, very interesting markings and captured well with extra nice fine detail, agree cropping a bit more of the tree trunk would work nicer

Thank you all. I agree with all about cropping. That would also lose the square crop that it is now. Karl, I also wondered about removing that bottom right dark area. Think I will try it.

Much much better. Great work.

Yep, that's the ticket :S3: