two to tango...

[annmpacheco]

It was a very interesting couple of weeks when the siblings arrived and tried to maneuver their landings and their territories... There must have been two sets of parents and a boatload of downy woodpeckers in my yard this summer... This was taken near the suet feeder and there was quite a battle as they jockeyed for position and suet rights... I removed the edge of the hook where the suet was hanging... This was taken in the shade at the woods edge, poor light and when they are fledglings their body feathers are a light gray...

D5
600mm

ISO2500
f 4
1/800

[dankearl]

Wow. No quibbles from me, great interaction, the perch is great , HA to me is good enough... BG very nice.

[Paul Burdett]

Love this one Ann: great interaction, really nice contrast between the BG and the birds and great overall composition. One of those photos where the twigs etc really work well. My only nitpic is that the face on the bird on the left seems a little oversharpened on my screen, but it's in no way a deal breaker. Would love to try the D5/600mm combo (after I win Lotto...lol).

[gail bisson]

Wow! This is great Ann! The wings up poses only last a millisecond and you nailed it!
I am surprised you got the subjects tack sharp at 1/800 and F4. Fantastic that both birds are in the identical plane of focus.
Nice clean BG and the perch looks good from here.
I see a weird straight line above the right woodpecker's beak. Would clone that out.
But otherwise, a great shot!
Gail

[annmpacheco]

Wow! This is great Ann! The wings up poses only last a millisecond and you nailed it!
I am surprised you got the subjects tack sharp at 1/800 and F4. Fantastic that both birds are in the identical plane of focus.
Nice clean BG and the perch looks good from here.
I see a weird straight line above the right woodpecker's beak. Would clone that out.
But otherwise, a great shot!
Gail

thanks Gail, wow i have no idea what that line is, didn't do any processing there, weird... good eyes!

[Brian Sump]

Ann, such a cool interaction shot. Both subjects in focus with a fun perch that actually helps separate and frame the image nicely. Background is about as pretty as they come!

The blacks appear a touch thin or gray in a few spots from my view, particularly the upper bird. Might be worth going into selective color and increasing the blacks in the black channel (or even sliding the middle slider in a levels adjustment to 96 or 98 maybe) and see what happens. You could also just mask those lighter spots and try. Just something you could opt to play with if you desire.

You got lots of details here thought and I would definitely take it as is. Super nice job!

[Daniel Cadieux]

Oh boy this is soooo cool!! You got a couple of good suggestions, but really this simply rocks as is as well!

[kevin Hice]

Lovely Ann and the vines tangled adds to the fighting and trying to get the top position sharp and great to get both birds in the same plane along with the sharpness of the vine where it counts.Love how a little red shows on the head of the bottom bird.TFS

[John Mack]

Love the interaction and the pose on both birds. The vine perch is pretty neat as well.