Green Woodpecker

[John Robinson]

Green Woodpecker(Juvenile)Nice surprise at my first session at the old faithfull pool here in the forest.Not much turned up but this woody and a family of locally bred Siskins which is nice. This woody shot will imediately be described as having a "busy" background. I agree it is but with a natural poolset up theres not much you can do. Thats how it is. I hve tried to soften the background but found it quite hard to do. Not done it before but its a try. Will be interesting to see what folks reckon.
D7100
Nikor 70-300mm
100ISO
125thsecond @f8
Crop from horizontal
Background blurred.
Neatimage/curves.
Cheers
JohnR

[Michael Hansen]

I really like it, John. For a natural pool set-up, it sure looks like it belongs in an aquarium or something. Very good-looking bird, good shot, and a pat on the back to ya.

As a side note, I have a photo of an eastern bluebird, in flight, just a couple feet away from the nest box, returning to feed the young that also has a busy background. Wasn't much I could do, as the trees were so close to the box they were still within my DOF. If you figure something out, do let me know, if you remember....? :) I *once* had goodish results with PS Elements, but probably 9 fails after that for that 1 succeed. Anyway, thanks for sharing this!


Take care,
Mike

[Mike Poole]

Nice juvie John, always good to see.

Nothing at all wrong with busy backgrounds, especially when they are your trademark! However, despite the chaos, there is nothing to distract from the bird - and to be honest it adds to the scene and complements young woody.

A bit more head turn would be nice, but in all honesty I would be happy to have shot this myself

Mike

[John Robinson]

Thanks both.
Michael-I use paint shop pro but the principles are the same in PS. Its basically selecting the background and blurring it (I presume anyway !!) Its selecting around the bird I find hard and very time consuming. Thereare different types of blur like Gausian etc. I am surethere are manyon here that can give you more info.
Cheers
John

[WillieHall]

beautiful bird captured in habitat, I enjoy these very much. Variety is the spice of life. In some cases it is enjoyable to see a sharp background in typical habitat IMHO.

[Karl Egressy]

Nice looking bird, almost perfect head turn captured, John. Now, as you mentioned, it made me wonder how it would look without blurring the background at all.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

Maybe post the version without blurring?
I don't feel the need to go to such elaborate length to "fit into a trend".
A busy background can be still useful, especially if you can use it in a way to show the bird off and even position the framing so you place the "busy" elements aesthetically within the frame.
With the HA, I'd prefer eye contact, but probably not that possible with its back turned to you.

[christopher galeski]

Like everything about the image John,good environment shot.well done.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Very unique bird, here most of our woodpeckers are red, white and black. Beautiful bird, nicely shown in it's environment. No nits from me. Thank you for sharing, John.

[John Robinson]

Thanks all.
Akos thanks - I think I only kept the PP one . I,llhave a look. There are some others anyway.
Cheers
John

[Stu Bowie]

Hi John, a good looking Woody, and I do like the detail and colours on him. Your vertical comp works well, and I love the forest enviroment with the visible moss. If you have softened the BG, it doesnt look bad, but sometimes with the foliage close by, its best to leave alone.

[adrian dancy]

Nice work John. I agree with Stu's comment above.

If you did this close up with a wide angle lens and everything was in focus, folks would say 'wow'. Photographers seem to train their minds into inexplicable contradictions and I can't explain why. Well done sir!

[dankearl]

What a striking bird, the first one I have seen. The BG looks good to me, plenty of soft details and just the right bokeh for me....

[John Robinson]

Thanks all. Appreciated. Had two young down together last night.
JohnR

[Bill Dix]

This is a beauty, John. I'm not feeling the need for a full head-turn, and this pose shows a nice dorsal view. I'm not sure I would have noticed the BG if you hadn't mentioned it. It looks natural to me.