This is my 1st posting on the Avian Forum. This Hairy Woodpecker was photographed in my yard near the bird feeders (that have to be taken in each night because of the local bears). Canon 40D, Canon 300 f4 L IS, 1.4 teleconverter, 1/1000, f5.6, AV mode, exposure compensation +1, ISO 400.
Comments, critiques and instruction very welcome.
Hi Nancy, and welcome to BPN. As you know, my own images are often far from excellent, but I have agreed to try and constructively and gently crtitique those of others, and take what I get in return! It's a great, if humbling, way to learn. I sometimes find the other group that we both belong to rather frustrating in terms of lack of feedback, although it's very friendly.
To my eye, the bird and the perch are a bit soft, and everything except the eye and beak are a little out of focus. The wings are lacking detail. It's a pity the tip of the bill rather blends in with the branch. I might also crop the image a little more vertically, taking more off the left than the right. Otherwise I like the pose, and the smooth background.
If you don't mind these suggestions, perhaps something like this? -- although no doubt others may have better ideas.
Keep posting, and keep reading the critiques from the real experts!
Hi Nancy. I like the pose, HA, eye contact, and BG color. To me, it looks a bit soft, with a loss of detail in the blacks. I think it is a good image-might need more sharpening. Let's see what the experts think.:)
Interesting note regarding the bears!:cool:
As it turns out I was writing this just when Richard was posting. His repost shows what I was talking about-sharper with more detail. I also like the tighter crop.
Last edited by Julie Brown; 03-17-2010 at 08:34 PM.
You're off to a good start with your first post! These woodpeckers are such fun to photograph, but can also be difficult because of the contrast with their black and white. I can't offer anything constructive other than what Richard already said. I hope you'll keep posting.
Richard, what sharpening method did you use? I'm impressed with how good a job you did with it.
Nice job getting this species out in the open Nancy, really good job on the exposure, I like the comp in Richard's repost and you could add some sharpening to your post.
In answer to Jean, I used Photoshop Elements 6 - duplicated the base layer, cropped the image, then selected the bird, applied a Levels layer and lightened the back till I could see some detail, then applied Sharpening ->Remove Lens Blur, adjusting the sliders till it looked right. I also removed a few bright pixels around the edge of the eye.
Richard and everyone,
Thank you for the advice. And Richard I think you greatly improved my image. I was just going to ask you for the details but now see you have posted them. I will try to duplicate what you did!
Hairy Woodpecker
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