Lineated Woodpecker

[Jim Crosswell]

Canon 40D
100-400L
400mm
ISO 500
f/5.6
1/250s
handheld

This is a fair sized crop but I like the tongue sticking out on this image. A branch and leaf were taken out around the body. Applied guassian blur to the BG. All C&Cs welcome.

[Randy Stout]

Jim:

Fascinating to see this bird and compare it to our pileated woodpecker. I would guess this is a female, if it follows the red crown pattern that the pileateds have.

The large crop is hurting the IQ as you mentioned, but I do like the tongue and the good view of the foot.
Well exposed. BG is pleasant.

Thanks for sharing.

Randy

[Fabs Forns]

Good compo, 1/3 bird, 1/3 neg space and 1/3 tree. I don't see any other way to do this given the bird's position.
Good EXP and very pretty bird too, TFS.

[Arthur Morris]

Killer subject; where was the image created? With the tree slightly angled, I would prefer a bit more of the tree and a bit less BKGR on the right. It sounds as if you could re-crop to achieve that. EXP excellent. Image quality around the head is most suspect; it looks as if there might have been some movement of the head and bill. Noise is prevalent in the dark areas. Lastly toning down the brightest areas of the trunk (upper right) with a Linear Burn would help.

Love the tongue.

Why no tripod?

[Jim Crosswell]

This bird flew in while I was having my morning coffee. I didn't have my gear out yet and had limited time to get the tripod so I did the best I could with what was there. The picture was taken on the pacific coast in Costa Rica.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Jim. I forgot to mention your excellent Photoshop work.

[Bryan Hix]

Man Jim, I am jealous! I have a series of these from Panama, but not as clear of surroundings as this. The comp works fine for me, but I wouldn't mind seeing some other views like Artie is suggesting. Cheers! :)