Surprised Pileated

This is my first time posting in OOTB but have always wanted to be at home here. With a little help, maybe I will be. This is a pileated woodpecker that stopped on a moss covered tree on his way to my suet feeder and did not expect to see me. I have cropped it a lot - it is now 25% of the original photo. I then added some cloudy sky background because the original was white. Then Topaz bold detail and lots of PS liquify. I finished it off with Topaz Clean Curly Smooth.

Original photo taken with Nikon D3S, 500mm f4 plus 1.4 converter, ISO 800, F7.1 at 1/250sec.

I would love to hear any comments and suggestions for improvements.

Laurie, Big welcome to OOTB and you will fit right in with us! Great first post, I love the details and the filtering that you applied. I might wish for a sliver more of the perch but this is lovely as presented and I do hope you make yourself at home here-we would love to see more of your creative images!

Yes, welcome. And "surprised" is a good title for this one! Good catch and texture. I like the swirls of the sky in contrast to the sharp touches of the bird. Welcome. Look for more from you.

Hi Laurie, welcome to OOTB. I love Pileated Woodpeckers..usually see them in the summer up at the cottage. Very nice filtering for this one, I love the red crest...I might evict the little fleck of white on the bird's neck if it were mine.

Laurie, this is so lovely. It really is. I like it as presented but would also LOVE to see the original image. Without the filters and so forth. Many thanks for sharing this. I've never seen a pileated woodpecker. Woody Woodpecker was one, if I recall, but out in the world I've never seen one. I keep missing them. I find their trees, or anyhow what's left of the trees they'd been occupying. But why babble? Great picture!

You are certainly welcome here. What a great image! Woodpeckers are my favorite birds although I rarely have seen pileateds. I love your filtering on the bird and the smooth sky looks great!

Thank you all for your comments. Denise - I did have more of the tree and cropped it out because as it gets closer to me it is softer and I was trying to make everything in the foreground sharp. Andrew - I did not remove anything from this photo, although I usually do and I should have removed that spot. I love woodpeckers too but that is because they have attitude and that incourages me to try something different.

I love the "startled" expression. Nice pic!

Laurie, welcome to OOTB!:S3: This looks like a nice base image to start with and your filtering makes it very nice. I love Pileateds - I have many in my woods and love watching them with their families every year. I hope you post lots more - you'll fit in nicely here.