Another Golden-fronted Woodpecker male

[CM Prince]

Nikon D90, 1/320 sec. at f/6.3, ISO 400, 300 mm



C&C greatly appreciated.
just trying to improve

Thanks for looking

C M

[LinzRiverBalmer]

Hi, well this is my first post with a new monitor that is great, can't believe the color. very colorful nice first image to critique. great colors, lovely perch.
I have to say I think the focus was mainly on the back feathers, perch and BG right branch and thorns. This could be a very well done lovely perspective image however the head, beak and most importantly the eye are soft and out of focus.
I checked on the Ipad to compare images, they are the same.
I love the colors in the perch and bird, I would crop differently to change the composition and eliminate the lower left branch.

the more experienced here will give you better feedback on how to improve your focus or what went wrong, I'm not sure of the specifics. Keep shooting.

[Sandy Witvoet]

Cool Bird! Great pose.... Perch looks a bit big and kind of overwhelms the woodpecker... not sure if it's the focal point or maybe ss, since woodpecker's head is rather blurry. White feathers look a bit blue to me...Was it shot thru a window?

[CM Prince]

Was taken from bird blind at South Llano River SP, TX. Not thru a window. Focal point on nikon viewnx showes head at eye.

[Sandy Witvoet]

Thanks CM... this is a great pose.... on second look... seems like the woodpecker may have moved his head just as you were shooting. Will look forward to seeing more!
-Sandy

[John Chardine]

Hi CM- Great bird- like someone has taken a yellow and red paintbrush to the head!

It looks like the critical focus is behind the bird- noting how the thorns are sharp! The body of the bird just squeezed in to the depth of field but the head doesn't. Now if the focal point is on the eye then we have some major AF mal-adjustment going on or the bird moved but the type of blur does not look like motion blur to me. I don't think the N90 can do AF micro adjustment but I could be wrong.

Best thing to do is try a static, well-lit subject with lots of detail. Focus as normal using AF, then turn on live view and focus using live view (this is slow but very accurate). If there is a difference in the images then there is an issue with AF.