Woodpecker that Captured a Praying Mantis
This is a photo of a female Red-bellied Woodpecker with a Praying Mantis in its beak coming back to their nest. I took this with a Nikon D200 and 500mm f4 manual focus lens and a 1.7X Teleconverter. The camera settings were ISO 400, Speed 1/160, and f7.1. I used PS CS3 to enhance this photo. Please provide with critiques. Thanks ADubin
A nice sharpe portrait. A bit of head turn would have been perfect. Could use more room at the bottom for the tail. Nice that even the bug is sharp.
Excelent result for a 500 plus a 1,7X TC. I suggest another round of noise reductionto some parts of the BG and I a m not sure about the composition. I am sure that you do not want to crop the nest hole because is part of the scene but I think the the comp needs more room at the left and at the bottom because the bird is very tight on the frame. The head position is not th ebest but not bad IMO and the mantis is a big bonus. The exposure is very good and the light fantastic.
Nice setting and the prey adds interest. I agree regarding head angle, more room at the bottom and noisy BG. Where did you make this image? I'm wondering because of the mantis.
Sharp and lovely light, as well as a nice nest hole. In addition to the head being turned away, the whole bird is angled away from the film plane. And clipping the tail makes cardinal sin #3...
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A ditto on Axel's feedback.
+ Mantis is a real add-on !
TFS.
Response to Carole
Carole, Thank you for your comments. ADubin
Originally Posted by carole wiley
Response To Juan
Thank you very much for your comments. On this photo I put a lot effort to get rid of the BG noise. I masked the BG and did 2.5 pixel Gaussian blur on it. On my Monitor which is a CRT Sony Artisan showed all the noise gone at 200X magnification? Are you using LCD screen? I guess I still need to be able to see the noise before I can reduce. ADubinf :o
Response to Axel
Axel, Thank you for your comments. This photo was take at the Viera Wetlands in central Florida. ADubin
Response To Artie
Artie, I realize that when I looked at this photo on my PC at the tail was cut off and I committed cardinal sin #3. Do you think I should clone in the botton of this photo especially the tail to improve it? (I think your answer is going to be yes) I did add BG space to the hand side of the photo already. Are you seeing BG noise on your monitor from this photo? Other people have made that comment to me. ADubin
Response to Kaushik
Kaushik, Thanks for your comment, ADubin
This is an excellent image as is !! Wonderful light and great detail. The praying mantis simply adds to an already Wonderful image!! The HEAD ANGLE IS NO PROBLEM AT ALL!!!! The clipped tail is a very minor nit!!! One of the better woodpecker images that I've seen!!
Ed, Thank you very much for your positive comments, ADubin:o:o:o
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