Pileated Woodpecker Expression

[Linwood Ferguson]

I liked the expression.

D300, 200-400 @ 200 F4, ISO400, with fill flash. I only had a couple seconds and didn't zoom in, so it is a bit of a tight crop. It's main interest to me was the eye and head position that gave an interesting expression, perhaps questioning what I am doing.

Criticism welcomed.

[Randy Stout]

Linwood:

Yes, a great expression! The bird is sharp, exposure good. The slight lack of detail from the crop is noticeable, but not terribly so. The back ground needs a little work to tone down some of the brightest spots, so they don't compete with your subject.

Thanks for sharing!

Randy

[Scott Frye]

Good detail in the blacks and whites and I like that expression. But the splotchy background distracts me. Maybe just lighten it a bit might reduce some of those highlights

[Linwood Ferguson]

Good detail in the blacks and whites and I like that expression. But the splotchy background distracts me. Maybe just lighten it a bit might reduce some of those highlights

Lighten, or darken?

[Scott Frye]

Hmm -- thinking more like trying desaturation -- lighten the green color --

[Daniel Cadieux]

Yes, good expression - the open bill adds alot. I would prefer a slightly better head angle (although it is not bad as is) and there is a hint of "steel eye" caused by the flash that needs to be taken care of. Simply mask what looks blue in the pupil and darken it until black, but be careful to keep the catchlight intact. I also agree with the brighter circles in the BG (especially in both right corners), they need to be toned down. exposure and sharpness look good, the large crop held relatively well :-)

[Linwood Ferguson]

Second attempt at post processing using suggestions.

I dropped the saturation on the background, but I also burned in it directly in some of the hotter spots. I also took about a half stop gradient over the tree and now with everything else a bit darker took the overall shot up about a third. I worked on the eye a bit. I masked in sharpening (in ACR) to keep it away from all the background, increased the detail and sharpening a bit on the bird (is it overdone now?). Trying to shape those too few pixels a bit.

The bird stands out more, but frankly it's not quite as striking a picture. I guess that's the bad news when the background is (was) the part that catches the eye.

Thank you for the criticism, it's a great help. More welcomed.

[Stu Bowie]

I cant understand how these guys dont get headaches with all the banging on the wood. It looks like this guy has one, with that expression. Lovely detail around the head, and agree with trying to tone down the highlights in the BG.