Acorn Woodpecker

[Diane Miller]

Canon 5D Mk III, 300mm f/2.8 IS + 1.4X III. Big Gitzo with Wimberley II. ISO 800, f/16, 1/200 sec. to sync with off-camera fill flash. The MicroSync won't do high-speed sync -- need to look at Pocket Wizard. In fact, it only syncs at 1/160, leaving a dark strip at the bottom 10% of the frame, but here the FG objects weren't in that area so I could squeak the SS up that small amount. The BG is in full sun with the bird in open shade. Full frame -- a very slight crop from the left to get rid of distracting blob on the perch.

I do wish I had aimed just a little to the right, but the head turn was very fleeting and I was lucky to catch it.

Basic LR adjustments then to PS CS 6 to darken the ends of the perch and just a little darkening of the BG, and a very small amount of Detail Extractor. Then NR with Neat Image. And I've finally learned to sharpen the exported JPEG -- it does make a difference!

C&C always appreciated and learned from.

[Dan Brown]

Very nice portrait, Diane. I like the head turn and the balanced flash lighting. I see a halo down the birds back and in the red on the head. Maybe sharpening? Nice though!

[jack williamson]

Excellent flash work, a little more room right as you said. I have three pocket wizard plus x, they will sync to 1/250, no high-speed, no TTL. I really like them.

Jack

[Diane Miller]

Thanks, Jack -- you saved me some trouble researching it. In the cases where I would want a higher SS I'll just have to settle for the limited off-camera angle I can get with the off-camera cord. (Maybe there is an extension cord for it?) That lets me go to high speed sync and get enough distance reach with the Better Beamer to "sync" at my highest SS, IF I want to up the ISO enough. But my working SS of 1/160 in the case of fill flash is working out fine for these "studio shots." I'm on a steady tripod and some shots get deleted because I didn't hit the focus right on the eye, but I rarely have one where movement is an issue, unless the bird suddenly makes a large movement, which would mostly look awkward at any SS. In the field would be different -- I'd have the flash (if used) on camera and would go to a higher SS with HSS.

You're right, Dan, the halo came from sharpening. Here I've done it again, on a separate layer, and masked out the edges. Also did another round of NR -- sharpening was subtle but it does boost everything.

Thanks for catching it!

[Karl Egressy]

Interesting perch for a woodpecker. I like it!!! Very nice image, Diane.

[Diane Miller]

Thanks! The perch could be a little bigger for his big feet, but that would hide more of the body.

I had rescued up 4 large pieces from the woodlot before they got split, that had reasonably photogenic holes. (Lots of dead wood around here.) I prop them up on the deck railing, which is used as a sidewalk by the woodpeckers to go to the water dish, and fill the holes with yummy seeds, and the woodpeckers completely ignore them while the titmice gobble up the seed. Someday....

[Dan Brown]

Repost looks great, Diane!

[Alan Murphy]

Diane, I happen to love small perches for Woodpeckers. The detail and comp is great. One thing i would change is warm the bird and perch up a bit. The BG ambient light is warm, the bird and perch is lit by flash and is cool. Warming it up will marry the two IHMO.

[Raymond Lee]

Great shot Diane! The flash really extract the details out of the bird. I agree with Alan, that with flash, the photo may require a bit of warmer colour balance adjustment.

[Diane Miller]

Thanks for the comments and complements!

I always have a warming gel on the flash when I shoot in open shade -- a "custom" one, in fact. The standard ones I have are too warm, so I cut them down to let some of the cooler light mix in. I wasn't sure it would work well but it seems to. (Did some gray card tests as I trimmed away.)

Of course the ambient light in open shade, even in this relatively constant location, can vary in temp. And this day I didn't bother to shoot a gray card (a mistake), so had to tweak the color balance with the eyedropper in LR's Develop module. Where to click was a guessing game but I found a spot that seemed to work well.

I'll revisit it, though -- there is some blue reflected in the black feathers, which I liked, but it could be warmed. That blue was from the sky -- the flash was off to the left, about 45 degrees off camera angle.

Seeing it here, I'd like to darken the perch a little, too. I'll tweak and repost when I get time.

[Diane Miller]

I do like it better with some of the blue from the sky removed. Is it enough?

[Robert Holguin]

Sweet shot.
Great pose and perch.
Your last repost looks very well.
Well done.

[Shawn Zierman]

Gorgeous species, and not one that most people in the US have access too...you are lucky! I do enjoy the end result in pane#11. Handsome portrait of the bird. Subject is nicely posed with a great head angle. Background is interesting visually without being distracting. My question is this...Why not move the food source to take advantage of the light that is illuminating the background?...instead of having to try and balance the ambient light with your apparently limited high speed sync flash capabilities....

[Satish Ranadive]

Excellent portrait with very nice head turn, Diane. Nice use of flash,beautiful colors,details ,BG and composition.

Regards,
Satish.

[Frank Schauf]

Beautiful portrait, great pose and colors.

[Loi Nguyen]

Diane, nice job with the filled flash. Lovely bird. I like the RP better with the BG toned down. The shooting angle is a bit steep, I wonder if you could have backed off a bit since this is almost a FF. Loi

[Bill Dix]

Wonderful look-back pose, nice bg. Last repost works very nicely. Yes, having him just a little further left would have been nice.

[Diane Miller]

Diane, nice job with the filled flash. Lovely bird. I like the RP better with the BG toned down. The shooting angle is a bit steep, I wonder if you could have backed off a bit since this is almost a FF. Loi

I was in a "blind" I have built covered with camo cloth, so can't back off. I vary the perch and its distance from me on different days for larger or smaller birds, but I always get one the wrong size landing, and can't pass up the chance to shoot it anyway! The angle here isn't steep, though -- the bird was almost level with the lens, maybe 4-6" above, and about 15 ft away.

And most of them wouldn't stay put while I changed position, anyway. The new Canon 200-400 + 1.4X sounds very attractive, but I just recently sprung for a 600...

Thanks for the comments, everyone!

[Girish Prahalad]

lovey portrait of this beautiful bird. prefer pane #11 for overall presentation

[mohammad reza shahab]

lovey pose and perch.Great details ,BG and composition.

[Diane Miller]

Thanks, Girish and Mohammad!

[Marina Scarr]

This is ONE sweet image, Diane!!!

[Diane Miller]

Thanks, Marina! These woodpeckers are reliable clowns and seem to like to pose for me.