Great Spottted Woodpecker

[pietipeppie]

Difficult light, but...

Canon 1D Mark IV
Canon EF 500/f4L IS USM
ISO 2500, 1/2500, f4,0
With Tripod and manual focus, distance from bird about 12 meter. Cropped of course, about 40%.

Continuing trying...

ppie
www.ppie.net

[arash_hazeghi]

I am not sure about this one, the angle is too steep and focus is pretty soft. I don't think you take in flight shots with manual focus. Better luck next time

[pietipeppie]

I am not sure about this one, the angle is too steep and focus is pretty soft. I don't think you take in flight shots with manual focus. Better luck next time

Huhhuu, there is no AF which could catch this moment. And only possibilty is manual focus.

We are now not Zoo....

But of cource this is Your opinion...

Of course it's not perfect image,

:ppie
www.ppie.net

[arash_hazeghi]

Huhhuu, there is no AF which could catch this moment. And only possibilty is manual focus.

We are now not Zoo....

But of cource this is Your opinion...

Of course it's not perfect image,

:ppie
www.ppie.net

I am not sure if you have had any experience in flight photography but It is certainly possible to get shots like this (and with the right angle and pose) with AF, please have a look at the images posted on this site to learn how people are doing this.

The image is really poor as posted, fortunately there are various resources on this site that will help you improve your images. Good luck :)

[Daniel Cadieux]

Just to make sure there is no misunderstanding (due to language barriers): Although we have many professional members, and some professionals running the site, most of us are amateurs (including me, and others from the staff). All levels of photographers are welcome here.

Hi Petri,

This is a difficult situation that you encountered here with very low odds of success. Your timing was very nice to catch it in the viewfinder, and your exposure looks good. I agree with Arash the the angle is steep, but focus on the eye and bill doesn't look that bad (perhaps you sharpened more in this area?). In general I would highly encourage using autofocus, especially with the gear you have. You may have to pre-focus to get close...but that would be the strategy to begin with.

Having said this, the second image you posted is much stronger im my opinion. The wingspread looks good as does the composition, and yes the sharpness (as posted).

Keep them coming Petri, we're here to help...and to have fun

[Daniel Cadieux]

Arash, I agree with you 100% about BPN...but the way you first stated it could be interpreted that if you are not professional you are not welcome. Don't forget, not everyone is English as first language (including yours truly) and it is easy to misunderstand. I was just making that clear for the OP.

As for the image, I did not say it was sharp, but it is not as bad as was said to be. I even asked him if he sharpened that area more as I suspect it may not have been as "sharp" pre-resizing.

[Arthur Morris]

Piettipeppe,

As to the image in Pane 1: It is a good try with an interesting pose but image quality is low in part due to a large crop. It is not close to being sharp. That said some additional sharpening might improve it a bit. You cannot however make unsharp images look really sharp. Though the 2nd image is a bit sharper than the first it too could use some sharpening.

My biggest problem with the Pane 1 image is that the bird is angling away from us....

Pietti, Arash was trying to help and did so in a courteous manner. Please confine your replies only to the image and the critique. Thanks.

Arash, as this look like a bird coming into or leaving a nest focusing manually can succeed at times if you are lucky. Alan Murphy does so all the time both in nesting and feeder situations; not all of us--myself included--are young and fast and talented enough to work with AF in situations like this.