Pileated woodpecker

[John Goldman]

Taken in the very dark woods behind my house.
5DmkIII, 300 2.8 + 2xTC, 1/200ss, f6.3, ISO 6400, HH with lens against the side of a tree for some support.
Crop for composition, some noise reduction, NIK Color FX tonal contrast and detail extractor applied to some bird parts.
Check out those feet!

[Sandy Witvoet]

Hi John,
Great BG which offsets yet complements this wonderful woodpecker. Good detail in the blacks. These guys always look a bit "dirty" this time of year, due to nesting duties...GREAT FEET!
Ok... I may be WAY out of the ballpark on this suggestion.... what do you think about a maybe 15 degree rotation CW to put the tree and bird at a slight angle? Might be fun to try.... and MIGHT work.... or... maybe not! Great shot!

[Tim Harding]

Nice shot in low light John. I like the BG and the pose/comp. The bird looks a little soft to me, maybe from the NR.

[Diane Miller]

Nice detail and scary feet! And wonderful sharpness for 1/200 at 600 mm! Good use of a tree-pod. Granted it was in the shade but is there a bit of a green-blue cast here? I'd try some comparisons but you may have hit the sweet spot. Probably a lot of reflected greens from the leaves.

[Luis Patacao]

Nice shot in low light John. I like the BG and the pose/comp. The bird looks a little soft to me, maybe from the NR.

Agree with Tim, it also looks a bit soft to me. Other than that nothing more to add.

[John Goldman]

Nice detail and scary feet! And wonderful sharpness for 1/200 at 600 mm! Good use of a tree-pod. Granted it was in the shade but is there a bit of a green-blue cast here? I'd try some comparisons but you may have hit the sweet spot. Probably a lot of reflected greens from the leaves.

Thanks for your comments.
All the light on the bird was filtered through the green canopy. I expect subjects with this lighting to have a more or less green cast. My choice is to leave the colors as I see them at the time. I have had comments about other images suggesting to remove the green cast. Is there a preferred option by 'professionals'.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi John,

Try adding 80 points or so of CYAN to the REDs in Selective Color and then share the repost with us here :).