Redheaded Woodpecker
I have a dead tree trunk planted in my yard. I have drilled holes in it and put seed in the holes and all kinds of birds come to it.
Nikon d700, 300MM F2.8, 1.4TC, 1/640, F7.1, ISO800, 7:34 AM
Adjusted exposure, recovery, blacks, brightness, contrast, vibrance in acr
Curves adjustment and usm in cs3
Jack, you are thinking like a woodpecker and they are admiring your work! Great idea for a combination feeder and setup. Excellent capture of this handsome bird. Nice exposure and sharpness. I would recommend toning down the brightest parts of the bg. The tree feels a bit large in the frame and I'm thinking that moving the bird over to the left would be good. There is a very slight blue cast to the image, noticeable mostly on the white breast and the tree.
Look forward to seeing what else you can catch with this "special" tree! Love the setup.
"It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera... they are made with the eye, heart, and head." - Henri Cartier Bresson
Please visit me on the web at http://kerryperkinsphotography.com
Agree with Kerry's critique...also wanted to add nice pose! I'd look at lightening/brightening the head area just a tiny bit more - it feels more shadowed than the rest of the bird.
Really nice woodpecker. I agree with above comments, and would like to crop some of the tree and get some more background right of the bird.
/Gregor
Great woodpecker portrait Jack. The red head is shown off really well. Lovely eye contact.
Gregor- Woodpecker images can be tough because the "perch" is often quite prominent in the image. The problem with cropping the trunk here and adding space to the right is that the bird would be centred and looking into the short side of the image. I think the bird is in the right place, in other words I like the composition as is.
The sharpness is good but I would bump it up a little with another round. The image can take it (I tried in Ps).
Jack: I really like this image of a rarely seen woodpecker around here. I, like John, like the larger tree trunk in the image. For one thing, it shows the habitat of this bird with the obviously dead tree trunk.
I like your idea of placing a branch for the bird's diner. Nice job.
Linda
Thank you all for your comments. I knew the bg was going to be too bright and as soon as I posted it
I saw that the head needed to be a little brighter. Thanks
Jack
I agree with most of the above. I think that in addition to brightening the red in the head, you should also increase the saturation. The red of a Red-headed Woodpecker is an intense color, and this looks a little too tame to me.
As to Kerry's comment about reducing the bluish cast, I'd recommend being careful. Red-headeds have bluish/black plumage, not clean black like most of the other black and white woodpeckers we have, and the bluish in the back does look pretty accurate. When you tame the bluish in the white breast, just make sure you don't wipe it out of the blacks on the back and wing.
Nice capture, Jack! Great looking woodpecker, nice detail, and like the contrast to BG & perch. Good suggestions made above to make it even stronger. Nice work!
Thank you all for your suggestions. Here is a repost with some changes. Thanks
Jack
Nice job on the re-post.
Wow, I loved the first shot, but the adjustments make the colors POP. Very nice! I love the idea of using a dead tree as a feeder.
Nancy
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