Red-Naped Sapsucker

[Ian Cassell]

Canon 7D
Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L

f/7.1 @ 1/100sec (supported on fence), ISO 800 (Fill-light from popup flash)

Taken from back porch of my lodge room this morning in Payson, AZ (Tonto National Forest)

Crop and levels in CS5
NR on BG in Noisware Pro

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Ian, nice capture of an interesting bird. Was this a large crop? I am seeing quite a bit of noise in the blacks. Would definitely tone down the bg on the left, it's pretty bright. Really cool to see this species! Can't decide whether it feels a little tight or not...

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Ian,

Nice species, do not see many of these. Kerry hit the high points, image quality could be stronger maybe a large crop. Nice job framing 1/3 tree, 1/3 bird and 1/3 background. IMO, ISO 800 is high for the 7D. If light is low, make the aperture wider and gather more light (e.g., f/5.6). Yes, higher ISO works well to gather light too. I just keep it around 400 on my 7D,..but that's me. Love to see more of this species, keep em coming. Guess the hummers have left AZ.

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks Kerry and Jeff. No, not a huge crop, but I certainly wasn't helped by the fact that this was in a shaded grove of trees. I tried my popup for fill, but would have been better served if I had brought my BB along on this trip. I think, basically, that I was a bit underexposed here. Opening my aperture in this setting, I'm afraid, would have brought my DOF down to unacceptable. I suppose that I could have dropped my SS even further than it was, but then the risk of motion blur would have been even greater. I considered adding a small touch of NR to the bird herself to try to get rid of some of the noise, but I haven't been very successful when I use NR on the main subject. Thanks again for all suggestions. As for ISO on the 7D, Jeff, I've been very happy with much I've done at 800, given that I didn't underexpose the image as I have here.

I've never seen a Red-Naped before. I used to see a fair number of his close cousin, the Yellow Bellied, when I lived in the northeast, but this was a new one for me.

[Jeff Cashdollar]

Ian,

Thanks for the response, good points here. As you know adjusting the slider on underexposed images can introduce noise as well. Anyway, love to see more of these guys, thanks for sharing.

[Sachin Saraf]

Nice HA and pose...I would prefer a smaller crop. the IQ has visibly got hit and fill flash caused the steel eye and needs eye doctoring (as said by Artie)...Also there is visible noise and another round of NR is needed.

[Ian Cassell]

Thanks for commenting, Sachin. As mentioned above, there is not much crop here. If I am not mistaken (and please someone correct me if I'm wrong), steel-eye is the avian equivalent of red-eye in mammals, from reflection off the retina. What you see in the eye here (and you will note a fair amount of black pupil) is actually reflection of the flash off the cornea (although I admit that a bit of doctoring to reduce the reflection might be in order). Unfortunately, as I mentioned to Jeff and Kerry, the original is somewhat underexposed. No amount of additional NR will help that, I'm afraid.

BTW, I wonder where you are in CT. I grew up in Fairfield County.