Woodpeckers pecking order

[Mark Corpe]

We are fortunate enough to have a variety of birds living in and around our garden. This includes a pair of Great spotted Woodpeckers (Dendrocopos major). Over the last few days we've noticed a change in their behavior. Whereas previously they'd fly in and gorge themselves on food, both birds are now collecting food and flying off with it. Hopefully indicating they have a nest of young Woodpeckers to feed. Which brings me back to this shot I took two days ago. This is actually one out of a rapid fire sequence of eight shots I took. As I tracked the female, I noticed the male flying in at the same time. This is not something I've seen before so I started shooting. What you see below is shot number 5 with the female looking sternly down at the male, who's hanging on to the edge of the branch as the female refuses to give way to him.
I took this sequence in the middle of a dark wet day with my Canon 1D mk IV and 70-200mm f/2.8 IS II lens. Due to the conditions, I used ISO 3200, widest aperture f/2.8 and cropped the shots by 50 to 60%. Shutter speed was 1/1250 sec. I'm pleased to say the birds didn't fight, both continued to collect food.

[Randy Stout]

Mark:

Great timing here, love the interaction, implied story, well done. Pretty darn good IQ under the circumstances. What type of post processing did you have to do for noise?

The vivid background is just the right luminosity for me. Gives a strong sense of the lush foliage without overpowering the subjects.
I would consider removing the bright white spot below the males tail.

You might also consider burning in the brighter parts of the perch.

Very well captured, congrats!

Cheers

Randy

[Mark Corpe]

Thanks Randy,

My process workflow is Raw image into LR4 and after histogram adjustments I get down to initial NR which I do at 100% crop. After LR is complete I export to CS6 and make various adjustments there including, as a final step, slight NR to finish. The shot didn't need a lot of NR, even at ISO 3200 the 1D IV is pretty clean when the shot is exposed right.

Good point about the perch, it's come out a little bright. The spots under the males tail are water droplets he's knocked off the perch as he landed!

Thanks again,

Mark.

[Randy Stout]

Thanks for the info Mark.

I suspected the white spot was water. In a shot with multiple rain drops, and it is apparent that in fact the spots are rain, I leave them. When there is just a tiny bit like this, I don't find it as effective to help tell the story, so am usually inclined to remove it, because in this case it is so bright.

Personal choice really!

Randy

[jack williamson]

I really like this Mark, the IQ looks good for the high ISO, good exposure and the action is very good.

Jack