Female Bennet's Woodpecker with colourful BG

[Richard Flack]

Attachment 148558

I am a big fan of woodepckers, so was super chuffed to get to spend some time with a family of bennet's woodpeckers (mom, dad and little one) on a recent trip to the Waterberg, South Africa.
Bennet's are the more difficult to find woodpeckers in South Africa and hence this was a real treat. I took a number of different shots and perspectives but liked this one given the natural framing and interesting BG (which may distract but I liked it nonetheless).

Look forward to your comments!

Date taken: January 2015
Photo details:
ISO 800
Shutter speed 1/125
F stop 6.3
Exposure bias 0
Cropped, sharpened, additional contrast

[Richard Flack]

Hi, can someone help me to get the thumbnail to show on the forum page, as for whatever reason I messed this up :)

[Daniel Cadieux]

Fixed it for you, not sure what happened when you uploaded the attachment but all looks good now.

That's a sweet looking WP. Good head turn, and I love the slanted tree. Nice composition. I like the foliage in top right corner, but not so much the bright spot in lower left...I's darken that up while keeping the pink hues in. I'd also lighten the iris more to get the red eye showing better. Excellent IQ on the subject and perch.

[Richard Flack]

Thanks Daniel, that is awesome. And thanks so much for the advice! Really helpful! I have applied it on the below image and prefer this one, thanks

[Geoffrey Montagu]

Beautiful Woodpecker and well exposed, Richard. Nice head turn, tail feathers bracing on tree and good detail. Might go for another round of NR on that great BG. Well done.




Geoffrey

[John Robinson]

Just my kind of background with just enough detail to set the scene. I would maybe tone down the bright twig. No big deal. Lovely shot.
JohnR

[Nikhil Patwardhan]

I liked the composition, the colors and especially the exposure, the detail in the dark areas (cheeks and wing tips) is subtle and pleasing. I liked the original pink better, also the tree looks like it could do with a little less sharpening.

[David Salem]

Great looking frame Richard. I really like the pose and the colors on this one. The re-post looks better and I like the eye work too. Well done

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Rich, good look back pose, and you have brought out the plumage and colours nicely. Gotta love that BG in your repost - great work.

I dont have a single WP image in my files.

[Jim Crosswell]

I like the angled tree, pose, details and eye in the repost is a big improvement. Well done Richard.