Here's another from my friend's backyard in Sanibel. This fellow appeared several times, but always with the sun almost behind him, and a bright white high-key sky. A mangrove tangle and alligator-infested lagoon prevented me from going around to the other side. After several abortive attempts, I saw him getting lower to the ground, and set up where I might have a chance. He eventually shimmied down the tree to a position against a partially green bg. I cloned the green to eliminate the remainder of the high-key white bg, and did some burning to mitigate a few bright spots on the bird.
D7000, 500f4 + 1.4x, ISO 2000, 1/640s @ f/8 manual, fill @ -2.3 EV. Tripod. Almost FF.
The work you did on the background was great. It works!
Your shot is better than anything I've ever done with this species, but I still think it's ugly.
Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers are simply ugly birds. Whenever I've photographed them I'm always disappointed because they look rumpled or messy somehow.
We have 7 kinds of woodpeckers at the Prairie Garden Trust and this is the only species I find unappealing.
Nice picture of this most wanted Woodpecker species, Bill. I have been trying to find one in breeding plumage for many years now. You did a great job in PP as well.
Your persistence paid off here Bill - and your PP skills has produced a lovely composition of this attractive bird. Nice sharp image, good flash technique and the textured bark of the tree compliments the bird very well.
Nice job working the scene to get a very nice end result.
I enjoy how much of the tree trunk is included in the frame, and the connection
between the species and the visible linear drill marks. I think the woodpecker is
lovely. In fresh spring plumage, this species is VERY lovely, but this is just fine too.
Randy raised a worthwhile suggestion regarding pp work to diminish the flashed
look of the image. A slightly better head/body angle, (sqare to the camera, or even
leaning in towards you instead of away) would also have been an improvement at the
time of capture. Excellent seperation of the body from the tree trunk.
Thank you all for the comments. Sibley describes the species as having "messy white bars" on his back. To make matters worse, I think this individual is showing some molting -- there are fine white feathers on the flank that caught the flash to make him look even messier. But I think the species is stunning in full breeding plumage. I guess I have a thing for woodpeckers. I agree that there is a "flashed" look to the image. I had tried to reduce the highlights prior to posting the OP, but some of the problem, I think, is due to the backlighting of the bird in shade, giving it a very flat look that was just exacerbated by the limited use of flash. I also agree with Shawn that the bird is leaning away, although his head is looking back a bit in the direction of the viewer. I have several other frames with better head angles, but in one case his tail is behind the tree, and in the other he is doing some sort of wierd wing stretch that I've never noticed a woodpecker doing -- maybe I'll work that one up some day. In any case, all of your comments are much appreciated.
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
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