We are fortunate to have a red-bellied woodpecker family living in a dead palm tree just two houses down. The mother and father are busy all day bringing food to the nest. The chicks haven't emerged yet but I could hear their call from inside the tree. This is a photo of the male. He landed on the trunk, checked me out for a few minutes, then regurgitated this red berry, dropped it inside the nest, and was off again. The female delivered a small lizard earlier, which probably would've made for a better food-in-mouth image, but technically this was the superior photo. I think it also shows good use of the tail for support. C&Cs welcome, please!
600mm
f/8
1/250
ISO 400
Fill with Vivitar 285HV @ 1/2 power
Cropped a bit off left, top, and bottom
Hi Erich You are fortunate and hope will make many more images !!!
Tech wise don't know what the ISO was but raise it if you can, can worry about any noise later. Head is just a little soft, more than likely movement !!! If you raise the ISO make sure there is no under exposure !!!
Processing wise would darken the tree bark just a bit and would go much better with the beautiful green bg !!! Framing wise would like more room up top... a bit more that from tail to edge.
I like the eye level view and behavior You are going to have a ball with these birds !!!! Can you get an angle that sort of looks in the nest .. maybe at an angle !!! Excellent !!!!
... just looking at it take a little from the right and give to the left ... less tree more green !!!
Hi Erich,
I like this behavior capture...I agree with Mr. Forns advice on the techs. The eye looks a tad soft would suggest on selective sharpening it a little more...and also cropping from the right side of the frame and adding canvas to the left side...looking forward to your next one...:cool:
Agree with Gus and AL - Hope you get lots more chances to shoot these guys - Dont be afraid to change your positions and experiment.
Looking forward to seeing more :)
Here's a repost, full-frame this time no cropping. I did selective smart sharpen on the eye and cheek and I think it made a difference. Looking at the image in PS at about 200% or 300% there is no motion blur in the bird, but it looks like my sharpest focus point was on the tiny feathers just behind the nostril, not the eye. Amazing how with these long lenses your focus can be off by just a few millimeters! Regardless, I will try to maintain minimum 1/500 SS from now on whenever light permits it! I also clipped the tree, copied it to new layer with color burn blending mode at 33% opacity. This was a great suggestion. I think it really brought out the texture in the bark and the greens of the moss.
I will shoot this family is often as possible. I can't wait to see the chicks. New angles are very tough. Just about anywhere else I've set the tripod there are houses and cars in the BG.
Hi Erich
I like the crop better. I would crop even more of the bright tree trunk.
Beautiful bird and nice pose.
It's still soft as is other images with the 2x. Shutter speed is to slow for 600mm, 300x2.
Red-bellied woodpecker
