Red bellied Woodpecker

[Jay Sheinfield]

Nikon DS3
1/100 sec @f/7
ISO 400
400mm

ISO should have been higher.

Comments welcome

[Ricardo Rodriguez]

Hi jay, nice head and camera angle. The ISO is fine since the bird is stationary, so 1/100 sec is enough (noise is not an issue with the D3S until about ISO 3200). My guess is you may be concerned with the dark tree; if so, you could brighten it in PS. The bird and BG seem well exposed to me, but IMO you could sharpen the whole bird a bit more. You might also consider cropping out half the tree as it is overwhelming the bird, IMO. Overall, I find the bird pleasing.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Jay, good suggestions by Ricardo. Bringing the tree in a bit will accentuate the bird which is well handled. Good lighting and backround and for my taste a small bit off the top.

[David Israel]

Hi Jay, you are certainly sharing a very nice specimen with this RBWP image. I always get a kick out of these guys being called Red-bellied WP's, but I suppose the title Red-headed WP was already taken. As a whole, I like the image. However, cropping is often comes down to personal taste and mine leans toward a bit tighter crop with a little more off the top and LHS, though I might consider a tad more room on the RHS. While that may be how I would want to crop it, your image looks very good to me just as it is.


Dave

[Ray Rozema]

Very good angle on the bird which for woodpeckers can hard to acheive. Very pleasing bg. Bird exposure looks good, Agree need lessen the impact of the perch lighten it and maybe crop a little more.

Ray Rozema

[Alfred Forns]

Great suggestions !!! ... can add I think the point of focus is around the shoulder area and not the head, make sure to move your points for framing or just lock and recompose !! ... you also should be able to get some more out of the tree !!!

[Lance Peters]

Hi Jay - agree with the above comments re the tree and the point of focus.
Doing well though!!

[Jay Sheinfield]

Thanks folks,

Here is a re-post with suggestions.....other than point of focus, which was good feedback for me.

I'll keep trying to get more out of the tree..........maybe add canvass to the right????

Jay

[Ricardo Rodriguez]

Hi Jay, your repost looks much better than the OP. Good job! IMO you do not need more canvas on the right. However, if you decide to add it and have PS CS5, I suggest you fill the added BG by selecting it and using Edit/Fill.../Content Aware in CS5. It should do the job perfectly (no hype) and in a matter of seconds, literally. I was blown away when I first used that new CS5 feature; that alone is worth the upgrade price, IMO.