At the circus

[Diane Miller]

Canon 5D3, 300mm f/2.8 IS, Gitzo and Wimberley II. ISO 400, 1/400 sec, f/13. Clearing fog. Basic LR processing; into PS for a little Detail Extractor and NR.

Disclaimer: this is a professional, salaried and released model, shot in a studio....

[MiroslavMaric]

Yes, professional working hard in gym .

Like this sharp photo, funny pose and composition. You got the eye contact too! Well done! (maybe to add some brightness to the dark tail only). TFS! Cheers, Miro

[John Robinson]

Love it !. Our Greater Spotted do this all the time Like the small perch in relation to the bird size too.. Many don't realise perch size importance sometimes. Good comp and a pleasing background with just enough OOF detail for me.
John

[Dumay de Boulle]

I love the upside-down/ hanging pose and the blue eye. Great BG and the exposure looks pretty good even though you have the B&W contrast.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Diane, a fun image with this pose and an apt title. Well exposed on this fellow, and I feel your comp/ placement works well. Killer BG. An opportunity well used.

[shane shacaluga]

Looks like its doing some chinups like Rocky!

Nice details, good perch and BG is excellent. That red top part of the head really pops in this image.

TFS

[gary ellwein]

Diane, I love the pose. Good head angle and eye contact. Others have commented on the appropriately sized perch and pleasing bg.

[Diane Miller]

Thanks, guys! I'm having fun with these funny birds!

[Daniel Cadieux]

I love to see the blue eye on this young Acorn Woodpecker...it's not often we see woodpeckers we blue eyes :-) The pose is priceless. Well composed image, good BG. I'd be tempted to boost the saturation just a bit more.

[Diane Miller]

Thanks, Daniel -- I think you're right. I find it difficult to know how far to go with images shot in cloudy conditions.

Our local tribe of acorn woodpeckers have eyes ranging from blue to a fairly bold pink to almost colorless. I don't know if this correlates with age or sex, but I just noticed this year that the juveniles (I think I'm seeing more than one) start out with very dark dusky blue eyes.