Great Spotted woodpecker

[Jonathan Ashton]

Camera Model Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Shooting Mode Aperture-Priority AE
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/800
Av( Aperture Value ) 5.6
Metering Mode Evaluative Metering
Exposure Compensation 0
ISO Speed 800
Auto ISO Speed OFF
Lens EF500mm f/4L IS USM
Image Quality RAW
Flash Off
FE lock OFF
White Balance Mode Auto
AF Mode AI Servo AF
AF Configuration Tool Case 2
Tracking sensitivity -1
Accel./decel. tracking 0
AF point auto switching 0
AF area select mode Manual selection
Color Space Adobe RGB
Drive Mode High-speed continuous shooting

Vertical crop from landscape image, I desaturated the reds quite considerably.

All C&C welcome.

[Randy Stout]

Jon:

This one ticks all the boxes. Nice woodpecker with classic pose, nice display of feet, good angle in frame, and I like the perch that clearly shows were he has been hammering, but it isn't so heavy to overpower the bird.

For personal taste, I could see the image about 1/4 stop brighter. I also might try a version cropped just above the yellow lichen at the top.

Cheers

Randy

[dankearl]

Very nice Woodpecker and a really nice comp with the diagonal branch.
Also a nice small perch for this guy.

[Dan Busby]

This one pretty much has all the good things going for it Jonathan. Great background, nice perch with lots of character but not distracting, nice detail on the bird. Very nice. I would clean up the two white spots between the bird and your signature.

[Lorant Voros]

Pretty sweet and I like the perch. I think the white spot is your bait falling off. Nice set up.

[gail bisson]

Good pose and IQ.
Agree with others about cloning out the white spots on R side.
I like the yellow lichens and the excellent view of the feet.
I also agree with Randy re: increasing exposure or brightness a bit,
Gail

[Simon Wantling]

Very nice Jonathan. Can ony echo the above comments.

[Satish Ranadive]

Jonathan:
Magnificent image.Love the pose of handsome woodpecker,great details in whites,perch and beautiful backdrop.
I like the composition also. I see the version cropped on the right side and just above the yellow lichen at the top as suggested by Randy Sir.

Regards,
Satish.

[John Cooper]

A lovely composition Jonathan of this Woodpecker. Sharp, well exposed and I like the patch of red in the BG that mirrors the red on the bird. Spots noted.

[christopher galeski]

very nice image Jonathan,love the BG,nice pose sharp,like the perch.thanks.

[Melvin Grey]

Very nice set-up Jonathan. I very much like the overall subtle colours produced by our British weather. Excellent plumage detail.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Looks good Jonathan! That BG rocks! THe removal of the white small whites spots would clean this off nicely.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Jon, great IQ, and just love the array of colours in the image. I feel your comp is fine as is, and removing the spots mentioned already will round this off nicely.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks for the feedback everyone, I also have some shots with fill in flash but I liked the subdued light on this one. I deliberately left the flying bits of debris to show he had been busy rooting about.

[Shawn Zierman]

Gorgeous image! Love the play of colors, particularly with the reds on the bird, and the reds
in the bg/LRC. I don't see anywhere that you endorsed using food for this image, which makes
it all the more remarkable in my opinion....

[Jonathan Ashton]

Shawn sorry to burst your bubble, I had previously bait the perch the previous day - he was rooting round for scraps.

[Karl Egressy]

Beauty shot of this great looking Woodpecker, Jonathan. Love the pose, background and the angled perch.

[Shawn Zierman]

No worries...my bubble is intact :) I was merely under the impression that if food was used as an attractant, it would have been disclosed, as it normally is on this site no?....

[arash_hazeghi]

lovely pose details and a good BG + perch, so much better IQ than your previous posts.

Congrats on the 5D3!

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the pose, perch, sharpness, details, composition, light and BG. Very well done Jonathan!