Great Spotted Woodpecker (female)

[Anders Nielsen]

I must say that I was thrilled and disapointed at the same time when I took this photo. Thrilled because of the larva it was foraging on and dissapointed because I was unable to frame the entire tail. I tried to crop the image a bit to get focus on the larva instead of the missing tail - I hope I succeded.

Please feel free to comment and critique - I am always open for suggestions and really want to keep improving my photos.:)

Canon EOS 400D
EF 400mm f/5.6L USM

1/100, f/5.6, ISO 400, tripod
Levels, noisereduction, shadow/highlight, crop, smartsharpen.

[Maxis Gamez]

HI Anders,

Your own critique is what I was thinking. Sometime cutting part of the body works but sometimes it doesn't. With that said, you did well with the exposure, BG and details.

[Romy Ocon]

Love the exposure, detail and the larva..... beautiful bird nicely captured.... indeed, I wish you got the tail. If this is near FF, I'd probably try a crop of the head.

Romy

[Axel Hildebrandt]

Your own comments are spot on. If backing up was no option then you made the best out of it. I agree with Romy that a portrait might be the second best choice.

[Grady Weed]

It is sharp, in focus, exposed properly etc. Many published photos have wings clipped etc. A tighter crop to highlight the intended purpose will make this over the top. Well done.

[Arthur Morris]

Hi Anders, You have followed my cut don't clip guideline here but made one mistake. You cropped just a bit too much from the bottom and as a result have clipped the red undertail coverts... You need to re-crop wider leaving a border for those coverts. Otherwise very lovely, esp. the baby bug.

later and love,
artie

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

Ditto all the above comments but just wanted to say Anders that you did a beautiful job capturing this woodpecker and the grub is a great bonus here !!! Love the excellent detail and eye contact.

[Rosl Roessner]

Hi Anders,
have you tried a portrait with this one?
May be the best solution for the interesting moment you captured.

[Anders Nielsen]

Thanks a lot for the critique and comments.

Romy, Axel, Grady and Rosl: I actually did consider making a portrait of this one, but I couldn't quite figure out how to crop it. I will give it a try and then repost if it works.
Arthur: Thanks a lot for letting me know. I hadn't even noticed that the tip of the red feather was missing I'll try your suggestion too.

[Anders Nielsen]

I have now tried to crop the image as suggested. The portrait didn't work for me but I liked Arties suggestion on how to crop A LOT - it really makes a difference! Thanks for the comments once again.

[Arthur Morris]

I have now tried to crop the image as suggested. The portrait didn't work for me but I liked Arties suggestion on how to crop A LOT - it really makes a difference! Thanks for the comments once again.

Hi Anders,

Let's see a re-post with the preferred crop.

later anad love and YAW, artie